What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8: 31 NKJV
People deal with adversity and disappointment in many different ways. There are those who will allow the disappointments of life to rule over how they live. I'm not that guy. There are those who will see setbacks in life as an excuse to give up trying. Again, that's not my style. I'm that guy who, when faced with the unfairness of life, will try that much harder. I'm the guy who, when wronged by another person, will forget that person and keep doing what I do. Not everyone can live this life I live. As I said, people deal with adversity in many different ways. This is simply the way I've chosen to deal with my disappointments. There is a story around NBA circles of a chance meeting in a restaurant between Michael Jordan and Seattle coach George Karl before the 1996 NBA finals. It seems that Jordan stood up to greet coach Karl, but the old man simply ignored him and walked away. Was Jordan angry about being snubbed? Perhaps, but he also used it as motivation to defeat the Sonics in the finals that year. The first time I heard this story I knew that it was a page out of my book. You can ignore me, anger me or insult me, but if you're looking for a reaction from me you're not going to get it. I won't give you that satisfaction. I've heard a few comments at the local gym about the shape I'm in. Now, I could get down on myself and feel abandoned, or I could use this as motivation to improve myself. The funny thing is, one of the people who made a negative comment to me some time ago is the same guy who congratulated me on hitting my 250# bench press goal. I'm guessing he knows by now that his negative comments produced some positive results on my end. This isn't some "when life gives you lemons make lemonade" motivational speech. In fact, I'm not at all sure if too many people can live the adversarial life. All I know is that I live my life with the confidence of knowing that I can.
"That's all I needed - for him to do that - and it became personal with me"
~Michael Jordan on being snubbed by George Karl~
So, where is the Christian perspective of this adversarial life I live? Well, one of the keys to the way I do things is, obviously, confidence. Confidence in who I am. Confidence in knowing the truth of Christ Jesus. Many people view Christians as meek and weak, so more than a few are taken back by the way I do things. How many people can say with confidence that they live as Jesus? Not too many. In fact, many would see this as some sort of heresy against the church. The Jewish authorities plotted to kill Jesus for His proclamation that he was the Son of God {John 5:18}. Jesus also tells us that if we have seen Him we have also seen the Father {John 14:10}. But being confident to live as Jesus? Who does that? I'll tell you who, the apostle Paul. It is Paul who speaks to Christ Jesus living in us in Galatians {Galatians 2:20}. I do not speak heresy when I claim to live my life with the confidence of Christ Jesus who is in me. I only speak to the truth of who Jesus truly is. Jesus is not the far off savior who died on that cross then spent the rest of eternity in heaven. No, Jesus died on the cross so that he COULD dwell in us. Jesus died on that cross in order that the body of sin, our body of sin, might be done away with {Romans 6:6}. Once He dealt with that sin issue, God could once again live among His children. I would say that this adversarial life I live is not so adversarial at all. I would call it more of a life lived in the confidence of Christ.
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we also believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV
~Scott~
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