 | Pressure: It Makes or Breaks You Christina Holland, UCD Staff - Wednesday, March 28, 2001
 Matthew 9:17 (NLT) says, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both wine and the wineskins are preserved.”
How do you respond to pressure? Pressure is unavoidable if you really want to live life, push yourself to grow, or achieve something great. The problem is that we are surrounded by a world constantly badgering us to seek comfort, and all the while we are not pushing ourselves to go to the One who can provide it. We get deceived into thinking we can really avoid pain and still achieve greatness. Wake up!! There is no such thing. I am one to talk. I have tried most of my life to avoid pressure… and when it comes there is something that goes off inside me. Run… kick against it.…avoid it… or just barrel through it. These are thoughts we’re all familiar with especially when we are pushed to do something beyond our human ability. But, isn’t this what we should be doing? Didn’t we become Christians to live a life on the edge? If we are going to make a difference in this world, shouldn’t we be the ones who show others there is another way…you don’t have to run, avoid pain, or harden yourself to become something or achieve something.
Pressure should push us to God; it should mold us into something great. Yet, because of our pride, it often evokes the opposite; thoughts that we can live and achieve on our own strength. Trying to achieve without the power of God, leads only to greater stress. Stress initially can motivate us, but sadly, many of us are only motivated under pressure. Stress has many more ill effects than we care to admit. It is one of the main reasons why people turn to alcohol, drugs, and food. It contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, and also affects the immune system, hurting its ability to protect us from serious diseases. It is also sad to see that one fourth of all prescriptions written in the US each year are for tranquilizers, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications. Truly we are a stressed and godless nation.
So many of us underestimate the spiritual pressures we face every day. The pressure to be righteous, the pressure to win the lost, the pressure to excel in our jobs, at school, etc. I think we ignore our need to go to God in every situation. If you are like me, there are times when I catch great visions of how God could use me and then I think about who I am and remember my weaknesses, and instantaneously I lose sight of the vision. It is easier at times to except failure or a lesser goal, then to have to undergo the pain of actually going to God to change who I am. We want to be great, but want the price tag of mediocrity. Too many of us are quick to dismiss our sins as “character flaws” and water down the Biblical teachings to repent and let God change us. Satan tries to use our weaknesses and stress to get us down, but as the following scriptures says, God wants it “to push us to our knees”.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10.(The Message)
“Because of the extravagance on those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, ‘My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness’ Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size; abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” | |