Handle aggravations with humility, gratitude
By Darryl Wood
Retired pastor
In preparation for a recent trip, we loaded the SUV with stuff. I pushed the vehicle’s start button. The control panel went bananas. Lights, messages and blaring sounds assaulted me.
The SUV did everything but start.
When a worker in the dealer’s service department said, “I never heard of that before,” my attitude worsened.
We finally abandoned the useless thing in the garage.
Next we unloaded everything and repacked it in the pick ’em up truck. Off we went.
About 100 miles down the road my blood pressure leveled out.
You seldom prepare for unwelcome aggravations. But they come.
Paul’s aggravation arrived in that old thorn.
He said, “… there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me — to keep me from exalting myself” (2 Cor. 12:7).
How do you handle thorny aggravations? Consider some suggestions.
- Expect them. Whoever told you life is annoyance-free fibbed. Thorns happen.
- Plod through them. At the time an aggravation can seem more like an ice pick in the heart than a thorn. A few miles down the road things get better.
- Learn from them. Paul’s thorn taught him humility. You might learn patience, endurance, hope.
- Thank God for them. Frustrations often point you to a greater reliance on Him.
What will you do with unwelcome aggravations?
EDITOR’S NOTE — Retired pastor Darryl Wood posts his blog, “A Personal Word from a Retread Pastor,” on Facebook each week. Wood retired in 2017 after 48 years of full-time ministry. He now serves churches in interim and supply capacities.
Thoughts on Advent
In our secret yearnings we wait for your coming, and in our grinding despair we doubt that you will.
And in this privileged place we are surrounded by witnesses who yearn more than do we and by those who despair more deeply than do we.
Look upon your church and its pastors in this season of hope which runs so quickly to fatigue and this season of yearning which becomes so easily quarrelsome.
Give us the grace and the impatience to wait for your coming to the bottom of our toes, to the edge of our finger tips.
We do not want our several worlds to end.
Come in your power and come in your weakness in any case and make all things new.
Amen.
Walter Brueggemann
From “Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann”
The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” He came to burn out of the hearts of men and out of society the lust, greed, selfishness and other evils rooted there. Yet He was despised and rejected — crucified! The blackest picture of the human heart portrays the cross, where evil Roman soldiers murdered Him.
But they could not destroy the flame of His love. The Bible teaches that He rose again; this Christ is in the world today with His sword and His fire, fighting against all forms of evil: lust, selfishness, jealousy, hate, oppression.
Billy Graham
From “A Light has Dawned: Meditations on
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Letters to the Editor
Thank you for the Fruitful publication. I greatly enjoyed all the articles, stories and reports. TAB did a great job informing all of us about the ministry of Alabama Baptists. Keep up the good work!
Jack W. Kinley
Phenix City, Ala.
I received my copy of Fruitful today and was totally taken by the thoroughness of each report and the accompanying color photography.
To see so many faces of the servants who are the guiding forces behind this wonderful movement we call the Alabama Baptist State Convention helped me feel I was actually a part of it!
And after reading how each of these entities operate, especially throughout the cloud of COVID-19, I have great admiration for all of you. You have taken Matthew 28:18–20 very seriously, and presented accomplishments, tasks and deeds in a manner I am sure Jesus is giving His blessing and approval.
These days we hear so much in a negative vein about “the church” and no doubt some of it is accurate, but this magazine bolstered my spirit and helped me realize my prayers for God’s movement in these troubled times are being honored.
I’m sure your job is difficult at times, but with Jesus at the helm where you and Alabama’s spiritual leaders have placed Him, the gospel ship can weather the storms!
Keep up the good work and God bless you as He blesses Alabama.
Charlotte A. Eiland
Opp, Ala.
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Barbara Wiginton
Enon Baptist Church, Morris, Ala.
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“Come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the newborn King.”
From “Angels We Have Heard on High” French hymn adapted by James Chadwick in 1862
To prepare our hearts for Christmas, we must cultivate the spirit of expectancy.
Handel H. Brown
“When Jesus Came”
Conversion too often is seen as a simple confession of sin unrelated to daily lifestyle. Though we sometimes label some of our churches “holiness” churches, all churches and all Christians are called to be holy. The Bible declares, “Follow … holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
Pastor Michael Brooks
Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster
The proper meaning of the name Christian is to believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Anointed, the Messiah, the Savior sent of God.
A Christian is a follower of Christ — someone who, from serious thought, embraces the religion of Christ, believes His promises and by baptism surrenders his life in faith and obedience to God. A Christian accepts that God, by the merits of Christ’s blood, cleanses him from sin and truly changes the state of his life from an alien to a citizen of God’s kingdom.
He makes it his chief goal to live his life by Christ’s precepts and example. This is to believe the gospel, by faith in which men alone can be brought unto God.
Oh, if all mankind were true Christians, how cheerfully would we help one another! The whole earth would be like one large family, every member of which would strive to be loving and kind.
Annette Brown
Via Facebook
We dare not think that Bible-based spiritual experiences are just for the sanctuary on Sundays with no actions on Mondays — and beyond. To do one apart from the other aborts the spiritual significance of both.
Morris Murray Jr.
Jasper, Ala.
Jesus is the answer to the problems placed on us and the problems found within us.
Lysa TerKeurst
Author
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From the Twitterverse
@pbethancourt
5 things everyone is looking for when they make a hire:
- Character — Do you have integrity?
- Competence — Do you have the skills?
- Culture — Do you fit with us?
- Chemistry — Do you make us better?
- Coachability — Do you desire to grow?
@deaninserra
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If this is even slightly untrue, celebrating Christmas is really weird. Since it is true, start the party.
@vancepitman
The commands of God have unspeakable value, as marking out for us the path of safety and of life, as guiding us to all that is lovely and of good report. — Andrew Murray
@MattMason3
John Newton: How unspeakably wonderful to know all our concerns are held in hands that bled for us.
@jdgreear
The dividing line is not between religious and irreligious; it is between those who realize how desperate they are apart from God’s grace and those who don’t. #InStep
@PaulTripp
What the gospel exposes the cross has covered. God never convicts and walks away.
@jaytysonstewart
I’ve seen a dramatic rise lately of people saying, “I’m proud of myself.” Am I the only one who’s noticed? James 4:6: “…God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Lord, forgive me where I fall to the temptation to think too highly of myself. #ResistPride
@MarkMittelberg
When a culture gets more worked up about Black Friday than Good Friday, it’s time for spiritual renewal in that culture. “Father … begin with us.”
@ChrystalHurst
“Don’t believe the lie that you have to be busy to be spiritual.”
— Lois Evans
@Blackwell_Kevin
Goal this week: Respond to the Holy Spirit as quickly as I do for social media notifications. #goals
@dailyspurgeon
God’s church has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe.
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