Resilience: It’s Time to Get UpSýnishorn

The Bible has much to say about the views we take in, where we should be looking and where we shouldn’t. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (TPT) reads:

So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.

It’s far too easy to focus on our troubles, failures, weaknesses, and tragedies. I know I have done it more than I would like to admit. When I do, two distinct things happen. First, if I am focused on the negative, I can’t focus on the truth. The truth is that Jesus has already overcome every trial and injustice and loss with which I am wrestling. Once I allow myself to focus on problems, I lose sight of the truth. Who I am and what I have been called to do moves outside of my periphery.

This leads to the second consequence—I get stuck. Not only am I not looking for a way to move forward, but my capacity to interpret the world around me becomes so compromised that I may choose to do nothing and rather wait to be rescued. If resiliency is directly correlated with buoyancy, as discussed in chapter one, it cannot co-exist with stagnation. If we want to lead well, this is where we must be certain that our perspective is in line with His Truth.

So, what’s the solution? We must shift our perspective. Rather than perceiving our difficulties as burdens threatening to take us out, we could consider them to be substances producing an eternal, weighty glory. Instead of viewing life and the world around us through a microscope, dissecting each component to the point of exhaustion and paralysis, we need to start looking through a telescope.