I was recently driving for 6 hours coming back from a trip and found a Christian Radio station to tune in to. They began broadcasting a sermon by Chuck Swindoll during which he quotes William Barclay. In his book, “The Gospel of Luke,” William Barclay states, “It has been said that Jesus promised His disciples three things – that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.”
I had never heard that quote before, but I immediately fell in love with it. Not at all because I have attained that level of trust in the Lord, but because it so much embodies the way I desire to live my life.
Reaching a level of complete fearlessness as it pertains to a Christian life does not mean being a daredevil and living recklessly. It means trusting the Lord so much that you no longer worry about possible outcomes or mishaps, but rather unabashedly live in a manner worthy of the Lord and obeying His will without regard to what people will think of you or if you will be persecuted for it. Oh, how I desire to live like that!
Being absurdly happy is not living in a euphoric level of enjoyment. I believe it means having such a profound contentment in Jesus and therefore being able to truly find joy in whatever circumstance and situation of life you find yourself. That does not negate in any way the hardships and severe difficulties that we most certainly will experience in life, but it means we have a hope to look towards which causes us to not fall long into the darkest pit of despair when those hardships come. I still have much to learn towards living in that level of true contentment in Christ.
In constant trouble is what is promised to us in Scripture when we become believers. Satan is ruling rampant in this fallen world, so if there is anything we can actually count on as believers, is that we WILL have hardships, difficulties, trials, persecution, etc. We are at war against the ultimate enemy of God and he will stop at nothing to try and turn us away from our Savior. So YES, we will be, and should expect, to deal with troubles.
So as we deal with constant troubles, we are not overwhelmed because we are striving to be content in the Lord and fearlessly trust Him with whatever the outcomes are! What a glorious goal to strive towards!
Gilbert K. Chesterton's quote.
Thanks for the post. Those three promises to "be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble" is what Paul experienced. That's why Paul told us "imitate me as I imitate Christ". He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this to us. This means we can attain and enjoy these promises!