BY STEVE WOODWORTH, A3 BOARD MEMBER
I recently read through my summary journal covering 45 years of being a Christian. My number-one takeaway was that I got too up in the good times and too down in the bad times. My number-two takeaway? There were a lot of bad times, even when I had just ridden into a triumph in my life.
Some key lessons I have learned over the years include:
God rarely works in a straight line, even when we are smack in the middle of His will. His power is made perfect in weakness. He does not want us to go from triumph to triumph or we will not grow close to him. “My power is made perfect in weakness.” God told Paul in 2 Cor 12:9.
“Through many tribulations you must enter the Kingdom of God” - Acts 14:22 That’s His plan, no matter what great things He may give us to accomplish.
The chain of spiritual growth starts with suffering. Near the end of Paul’s life he says he has fought the good fight, finished the race (2 Timothy) but also in the same letter, “all in Asia turned away from me.” That happens to be where he planted most of the churches he started!
At Masterworks, I’ve suffered two embezzlements, one trusted key employee passing USP trade secrets to a competitor, factions of people working secretly against me, key staff who left and seemed to make it their mission to take us down, and I’ve been fired more times than anyone I know! I’ve come to see the “many tribulations” and the disappointment Paul felt are just the way God works in and through us.
This is the baffling way that God works:
One of the best examples in the Bible of God’s circuitous route is Paul’s journey to Rome:
- Jesus himself appears to Paul in Jerusalem and says, “As you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). I think anyone would have taken that as both a plan and a promise: you are going to Rome.
- The next day, Paul’s nephew overhears a plot to kill Paul. A Roman soldier decides to protect Paul by taking him to Caesarea. He is imprisoned there for two years while Roman and Jewish leaders question him and seem unable to decide what to do with him.
- He appeals to Caesar and is put on a ship to Rome. I think he must have thought, “Finally I’m going to Rome, and the Romans are taking me there!”
- He is shipwrecked on the island of Malta. They have to stay there for 3 months to wait for the sailing season to come around again.
- Finally, he’s in Rome, in prison, maybe 2-½ years after Jesus spoke to him.
Neither in Acts nor in any of his letters does Paul refer to this circuitous plan that God had for him. Paul seems to take it for granted that God is sovereign, he doesn’t lead in straight lines, and there are no grounds for complaint, only for patience and trust. By simply stating all this like it was to be expected that all these bad things would happen, Luke seems to be saying that this is just the way life is. Even when Jesus himself intends to do something through you, and even when he tells you what it is, it’s never a straight line.
So what should we do with all this?
My prayer is that, whatever our spiritual journeys, each of us can be people who are described well by the hundreds of commands and descriptions in the Bible of what kind of people we should be:
Do not grow weary in doing good (2 Thess. 3:13).
Encourage one another and build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11).
Have unity of mind, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind (I Pet. 3:8).
Humble ourselves before the Lord and he will exalt us (James 4:10).
Let’s assume God has a plan for us, however bumpy it may be. Let’s move forward in confidence, trusting in God and in one another. And let’s realize that the walk of Christian discipleship is just hard work much of the time, and that is God’s way.
Steve Woodworth is the CEO of Masterworks and serves on the board of A3. He has been a former vice president at World Vision and has also served as chair of the Communications Working Group for the Lausanne Movement.
More Information
- Header photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
- Check out Steve's podcast episode: How Leaders Can Stay Faithful to their Mission and Finish Strong
- A3 Board of Directors
