Dealing With Disappointments
When was the last time that you were disappointed with someone or something? Often in life, things do not always go as we had hoped or planned. My daughter was a football cheerleader this fall on a team that went 0-9. Disappointing? Certainly. How about when we have health concerns which send us off to the Doctor and we don'’t get the report that we had hoped for? Disappointing? Certainly! It can also be frightening.
I recently ran the Chicago Marathon (26.2 miles) as a fundraiser for our District'’s project in Palanga, Lithuania. I finished the race having to walk on and off from mile 17 or so to the finish. Disappointing? Certainly! But when the IT band on the left knee begins to hurt, you have no other option but to walk. However, many people supported my efforts and a few thousand dollars were raised for this project.
My youngest daughter recently had her cell phone stolen. Disappointing? Certainly! It is more of a hassle than anything else. In our disappointments we learn different lessons. Some of them teach us perseverance and others test our character in how we react to the situation.
Are we always tuned into the disappointments of those around us? Do we see the pains and hurts which our neighbor may be undergoing? Do we understand the struggles that our co-workers may be dealing with in their lives? We are called to "love our neighbor as ourselves" Matt. 22:39. We can be so focused in our own little worlds that we never see what is going on around us, sometimes even in our own families.
Disappointment can bring about a sense of grief and sorrow, pain and loss. How we deal with those things says a great deal about who we are "in Christ Jesus." God's call to us is always one of repentance. Many are the times when we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. John said: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" I John 1:9.
Jesus has already undertaken all of our disappointment and has come out victorious on our behalf. We read in Isaiah 53: "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering."
What must have looked like defeat and disappointment to the disciples was shown to be the ultimate victory. We read in Acts 5:30-31, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."
Disappointments are often some of the crosses which we bear in life as the "“baptized in Christ Jesus."” But Jesus has already borne and conquered all things on our behalf through His suffering, death and resurrection. Peter states: 1 Peter 2:6 "For it stands in Scripture:'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,a cornerstone chosen and precious,and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'"
