11/30/15: The Get-Through-It Formula
David Gerrold said, “Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order.” Sometimes it just seems like we might as well give up. Life is hard. But we don’t want to give up; we want to keep believing that “the sun will come out tomorrow.” For every day, but especially for days when we feel like nothing is going right, God gave us a get-through-it formula through the apostle Peter.
“For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” 1 Peter 3:10-12 (NKJ).
That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? For those of us who love life (that’s us) and want to see good days (that’s us too), let me break this verse down for us. Here is the formula of three things to stop, three things to start, and one thing to keep you remembering those first six:
- Refrain our tongue from evil – stop talking smack
- Keep our lips from speaking deceit – stop trying to “get over”
- Turn away from evil – stop messing up
- Do good – start handling our business properly
- Seek and pursue peace – start getting along
- Pray because God’s eyes are on us and His ears are open to us – start turning to God on a regular basis
- Realize that the Lord is against us if we do evil – remember that won’t be happy with us is we are screw-ups, so be sure to keep up with the first six.
Even when life around us is hard, the life within us will sustain us. So here’s the formula: stop, stop, stop; start, start, start; and remember.
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