Dealing With Adversity

"When times are good be happy, but when times are bad consider - God has made the one as well as the other." Ecclesiastes 7: 14

A few years ago, two of my good friends went through a real hard time in their lives. One friend was a well respected man in the Real Estate industry. He had reached the panicle of his career and was enjoying the blessings God had bestowed on him. He was a dedicated Christian and lived out his beliefs in all he did. Life was good. My other friend was also a very successful businessman and a dedicated Christian. He had built up his business to the point others were approaching him to buy the business. He had a great family and life could not be better.   

Both of these men were like many who had achieved a lot of worldly success and had a great influence on all those who knew them. But then came a day when their world began to crumble; recession hit and hit hard. The business they had built up began to disappear. Debts mounted and the promises for payment on the sale of the business faulted. Problems in the ideal of families began to occur. A child was killed in an accident. To many, what these men went through would have crumbled the strongest of faiths. But not these men. With humility and perseverance, they met each day of their ordeals with a determination to continue to seek and live for God. 

How we respond to adversity will have not only an impact on ourselves. but, also, on those around us. Our neighbors, our employees, customers, and our competitors, are all looking to see how we, who call ourselves Christians, will respond when our world crumbles. Representing God in the marketplace is not always easy, but it is part of our responsibility. When adversity strikes, we naturally want to get rid of the adversity. During these times, we must remember that the battle against the adversity is God's. The path we choose with the adversity is ours. "If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength." Proverbs 24: 10.

James says we are to count it all joy when trials come. I don't think this means we are to be happy about the situation, but maybe we should have a joyful attitude in all situations. In our trials, we have an opportunity to grow our own faith, as well as, demonstrate what that faith means. God allows trials for a purpose. Part of that purpose is to test what we say we believe so that our beliefs become convictions. If we falter, those around us may see us as no different than those who do not believe in Christ. The world is looking at us to see if our faith really makes a difference.

How we handle adversity will affect how we represent God in the marketplace. For my two friends, their trials not only provided an opportunity for them to grow and test what they really believed, but it also had a tremendous impact on all those around them. They have since been blessed far beyond anything they had before. But more importantly, they have been a great positive influence in representing what it means to be a Christian in the marketplace.  

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12: 12