Life is a balance. It's never unlimited joy.
You know, there's some people who feel as though
they expect every day to be a wonderful holiday.
Every hour filled with laughter and joy and good
times. You know, it's like a youngster going
to a circus. Oh, that youngster has the greatest
time at a circus. But when it comes to coming
back home again and having to sit down and eat
their cereal for breakfast and there's discipline,
they don't like it. They don't want discipline.
They want every day to be a day at the circus.
And sometimes I find out that an awful lot of
adults are still little children. And they, too,
expect every day to be a wonderful circus, a
day of laughter, every hour filled with joy.
But it just doesn't work that way. It just doesn't.
I don't care who you are. I don't care whether
you're rich or poor. It just doesn't work that
way. Life is a balance. It's never unlimited
joy. There'll be sorrow, even tragedy. But the
important thing is how you face it. And sooner
or later, remember, there will be difficulty
because difficulty is one of the facts of human
existence. Yet most people look... as though
they had no trouble. It's a mark of a sophisticated
person not to show outwardly what goes on inwardly.
But if you are a part of humanity, remember,
there'll be those days when the sun isn't shining.
But not one person. I don't care who you are.
need ever be defeated, no matter how dark the
day, no matter what the problem, no matter what
the difficulty. When we have the Spirit of Christ,
when we have a living Christ in our hearts and
a sense of the presence of God in time of difficulty,
we can believe that every difficulty, no matter
what that difficulty is, has some good in it.
And we can profit. By that difficulty. When you
are faced with a difficulty, the wise thing to
do is to say to yourself, let me extract from
this all the know -how that it contains. And
then walk away from it. Leave it. Move on. Get
exactly what I am saying. But the trouble with
many people is that when difficulty comes, they
get bogged down in it. And there's the danger.
We resent the pain of difficulty. And yet oftentimes,
instead of buckling down to solving it, we just
brood over it, continue to carry the thing night
and day. We go to... We sleep with it. We awaken
the morning with it. Not being able to get victory
over it. Almost enjoying it. And after a certain
length of time, the difficulty will conquer us
and we become a slave to it. After you've done
what you can about a problem. And this is one
thing that I've learned in my own life. And there
is no substitute for experience. Sometimes I
think I'm the most practical preacher in the
whole world. But maybe I'm practical because
all that I know is what I personally have experienced.
And I can only give to you what I have experienced.
For no person can give to another anything more
than what they have actually experienced themselves.
And perhaps that's one reason why I'm so very
practical in my preaching. And this is what I
have learned. After one has done all that one
can about a problem, then one has to walk away
from it, taking some loss perhaps, suffering
some pain certainly. But nevertheless, walk away
from it. Oh, sure, the pain doesn't always leave
at once. You know what I'm talking about. But
walk away from it. Don't carry it. It'll conquer
you if you do. The other day, for example, I
was talking about the young man who had asked
to see me a fine young man. but full of anger
and hate and resentment because of a difficulty
he had. Oh, I find so many people recently with
resentments. Resentments. We are bringing up
an age of resentment and hate and greed. I was
thinking the other day, in fact, just a very
few minutes ago, I said to the engineer here
in the studio, you know, I think the greatest
sin in the world is the sin of jealousy. I don't
know of a sin that is greater than the sin of
jealousy. And then following that is the sin
of greed. Sometimes I wonder whether greed perhaps
is the greater the two sins. I say jealousy first
because of the very first sin that we have any
record of whatsoever in the Word of God. And
then... Greed. It's hard to separate the two.
Then there comes that sin of resentment and hate.
And you can hardly separate those two. Where
there's resentment, there's hate. Where there's
hate, you'll find resentment. And the young man
who was talking with me was a fine young man,
but he was full of anger and full of hate and
full of resentment because of a difficulty he
had. And his story was this. Having worked hard
for a certain company over a period of time,
he had wanted a promotion to a certain position
higher up. And because of some feud, that position
was not giving him the position that he wanted.
And he was, as he put it, maliciously double
-crossed. And he told me at great length about
the man who had double -crossed him. He said,
this had made me lose my faith in business leadership.
I no longer have any faith in business leadership.
I've lost my faith in the integrity of top management.
And he went on and on. Well, I asked. Have you
a good job now? Yes, replied. I have? I'm with
another company. As a matter of fact, it's a
better job than the one I had before. With my
old company, the promotion I should have had,
that should have been given me, was the last
that I could have gotten. I could not have gone
any higher. It was a fine spot, but actually
it was a dead end. Where now, while I don't quite
make so much money, the opportunities are...
Unlimited. And I really see a future for myself.
And so I said, um, and you're still fussing about
the old situation? Look, young man, don't tell
me that you aren't smart enough to see that in
the long run, that's what you were fussing and
fuming about. In the long run, the fact that
you didn't get the position that you wanted could
really be the greatest thing in the world that
happened to you. You're so short -sighted. But
he said the man double -crossed me. He did this
thing to me. I was double -crossed. I did not
deserve the treatment I got. Why did I have to
get that kind of a deal, you know? Oh, you've
heard it. I can understand how you feel, how
hurt you must be, I said. But don't be so short
-sighted. Look beyond today. Look beyond the
man who did you dirty. Look beyond that. You're
only hurting yourself. You're being your worst
enemy. You want to know something? Just throw
this in for good measure. Most people are...
their own worst enemy. Now, let's just be quiet
and think on that statement that I just now made.
Is it possible that right now in the circumstances
that you find yourself in, that perhaps you are
your own worst enemy? The only person that you're
really hurting is yourself. If you're carrying
that hate, if you're carrying that resentment,
if you're carrying those unkind thoughts in your
mind, if you're a jealous person, if you're a
greedy person, remember, you're only destroying
yourself. You are your own worst enemy. You know?
I turned to the young man and said, you had just
told me that you have a greater opportunity where
you are now than you had before. And yet you're
a very angry man. Yes, but he said, suppose somebody
had done that to you. Just suppose. Just suppose
somebody had done that to you. And I said, how
do you know? Maybe they have. That's the reason
I can. talk to you about this and understand
it a little better. Maybe they have. That's the
reason I can see the advantages of just walking
away. Mm -hmm. Then I gave him a quotation from
a little booklet that I had given to me years
and years ago. I've always kept it in my desk.
And I do not know who wrote it. I cannot give
the one credit. I wish I knew. But this is what
the quotation is. Never chew your pills. Swallow
them. For chewing makes them more bitter still.
You know, that's really wonderful advice. Never
chew your pills. Did you ever take a pill? That's
the reason they tell you to take water when you
take a pill. Because you swallow it and you don't
get the taste of it. The pill can be so bitter.
If you didn't take the water to wash it down
and just took it in your mouth and chewed it,
you'd be amazed how... Bitter, that pill would
be chewing it. And so when someone's mistreated
you, there's been an injustice done. And just
take a little water of human kindness and just
swallow it. Never chew your pills. Swallow them.
For chewing makes them more bitter still. If
you've been mistreated. Don't chew it. Swallow
it. And then forget it and turn your attention
to the opportunities which are yours. One of
the greatest facts of human life is that difficulty
sometimes comes upon us for healthful purposes.
I'm sure if you'd review your life systematically
and try to see it objectively, you'd find that
some of the greatest things that have ever happened
to you have been your difficulties. For these
are the things that made you stronger and wiser
and have given you more purpose and direction
to your life. Sometimes a hard experience can
be the greatest thing that ever happened to your
life. Looking back over my own life, and I hate
to be personal about this thing, but so help
me, it is true. Oh, if I would ever sit down
and really and truly write the story of my life.
It would be unbelievable. You would think it
was fiction. You could scarcely accept it as
being truth. But I don't go around and tell people
about the experiences that I have been through
since I was 14, 15, 16, 17, I'm not going to
tell you how many years. But when I look back
now, that's the reason I can be a practical person
now. That's the reason I am where I am today,
by the grace of God. It was the hard things that
made me strong. Those times that I would grit
my teeth and say, no matter what happens, this
thing is not going to defeat me. I could have
been out of the ministry before I ever began.
I could have... become discouraged and been out
of the ministry before I was 18 years of age.
Looking back now, before I had reached the age
of 25, I could well have gone down in defeat
and in discouragement and said, I can't take
it any longer. I just can't. But I'll tell you
something. I never chewed my pills. I just swallowed
them and kept going. Uh -huh. God is our refuge
and strength. A very present help in trouble.
That's the word of God. One way that he helps
us is through the capacity that he gave us to
think. The idea that we ought to stop chewing
our pills is a very simple example of it. With
the wonderful mind that God has given each of
us. Use the mind prayerfully and in harmony with
his laws. And we can outsmart our difficulties.
You can outsmart your difficulties. There's always
a strategy by which a difficulty can be handled.
I really believe our minds are such that we have
in us the ability to handle any difficulty. I
believe that. It is my firm conviction. This
is a part of my faith in my Heavenly Father.
I believe that if He had not equipped me with
the power, and the resources to overcome a certain
problem, a certain difficulty, a certain sorrow,
a certain disappointment in my life, He would
not have permitted that thing to have happened
to me. For with that difficulty, or with that
problem, He made a way of victory, or He would
not be a gracious, tender Heavenly Father. He
makes a way of escape for every temptation. I
believe that is a part of my theology. That's
my faith in my Heavenly Father. I am never confronted
with a temptation, but what He gives me the power
to overcome that temptation in Himself. If I
want to be victorious, over every difficulty,
all I have to do is to turn to him, the one who
knows no defeat, and permit him to handle it.
It's that simple. I'm talking to you about something
that is the most simple, the most practical thing
in the whole world. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Oh, you say,
but I'm so weak. Now, you know, that sounds very
humble to say you're weak, but... Actually, it
isn't true humility at all. It's just a denial
of God in you. You only think you're weak. You
really have great strength. You'll be able to
draw on it and act strong when you get to thinking
you are strong. The trouble with many of us is
that we do not make up our mind to control ourselves
and direct our own lives and permit... God to
direct us. Did you ever think of that? We let
ourselves be pushed around by circumstances and
events like little chips in a little dream. We're
not meant to be pushed around by circumstances.
You were not made to be governed by your difficulties.
We are children of God. If I could only get every
Christian to see that you are God's child, that
God is your heavenly father. It always pays to
be honest with yourself. And I've come to the
conclusion there are very few people living today
who are honest with themselves. As long as I'm
honest with myself, I'll be honest with God.
And there's some people who will never be honest
with God because they're never honest, really
honest with themselves. They'll never look themselves
directly in the face. No matter what happens,
I know of someone that no matter what happens,
that one always has a way of putting the blame
on somebody else. Always. I don't care what it
is. They can be so wrong, so dead wrong, and
yet they'll put the blame on somebody else and
talk so hard and strong that while you're talking
to them, they almost have you convinced that
they were right and the other person was wrong,
and yet you know yourself that they were so wrong.
They'll live and die never really being honest
with themselves. Mm -hmm. It pays to be honest
with yourself and consider whether you yourself
are the cause of your difficulty. And nine times
out of ten, you'll find you are. Be honest and
see what it is that you do that causes the difficulty
or prevents a solution of the difficulty. Then
take hold of your life and handle it. You do
not have to go down in defeat. With Christ in
you, you will not only be a conqueror, but more
than conquerors through Christ who loves you.