When I was a teenager, I remember listening to a famous boxing match on the radio. On December 10, 1958, Yvon Durelle, from New Brunswick, Canada fought Archie Moore for the Light Heavy Weight Championship of the world.
Moore was famous; Durelle was an unknown. Moore was the world champion; Durelle was a nobody. Moore had fought all over the world; Durelle was a fisherman from Canada’s East Coast. In his career, Moore won 140 of his 228 wins by KO’s and was heavily favored to win this championship bout. Moore was listed as the 4-1 favorite. However, in the first round, Durelle got the better of Moore and knocked Moore to the canvass three times. He did it again in the fourth round. It looked like it was all over for Moore, but they kept boxing.
Moore refused to surrender. Every time he was knocked down, he somehow got up to fight again. Then, in the eleventh round, Moore reached into his reservoir of determination and landed a powerful punch. Durelle fell to the canvass and never got up. It was a stunning turn of events. Moore had refused to quit. He refused to stay down. He bounced back. He was resilient and he won the fight.
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
Resilience is the ability to bounce back continually from adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats and criticism. Resilience is not the absence of difficulty but the determination never to quit when things aren’t going your way. Resilience means carrying on after you experience failure.
Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players ever, said, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that’s precisely why I succeed.”
Sir Winston Churchill demonstrated resilience on June 4, 1940 when he said, “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
The Apostle Paul understood resilience when he wrote: We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). One Bible translation puts it this way: We are knocked down but not knocked out!
RESILIENCE IS A TECHNICAL WORD
The term resilience comes from science and engineering. When a round balloon is dropped on the floor, the side of the balloon that hits the floor goes flat for a moment. But as it bounces back, it returns to its former roundness. The ability to revert to its former condition is called resilience.
Resilience is the property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed. It is the ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune.
The word resilience is derived from the Latin verb salire, which means to jump. The prefix re- means back or again. Resilience is literally about jumping back. It describes recuperative power.
WE NEED THIS QUALITY IN OUR LIVES AND MINISTRIES.
We need the courage, strength, will-power and stamina to rekindle our belief in what God called us to be, and to go on and do it. Resiliency is the ability to weather tribulation without cracking.
Recently, the economy has been battered. Some of our relationships have been bruised. Many people are hurting. People have lost their jobs, their homes and face financial disaster and they need to learn how to bounce back. Life requires resilience.
Christians, who faithfully follow their Lord, need resilience. Sometimes we fail to serve or speak as we should. At times our enemy delivers a powerful blow. Not all our ministry efforts meet with acceptance and success. At times we lack the courage to speak and the faith to trust. We’re tempted to quit. We need resilience.
Sooner or later, everyone experiences rejection, failure, setback and disappointment. I have had my share of disappointments and you will too. Resilience is the ability to keep coming back again and again and again when the frantic pace of life takes a toll on us and we are tempted to quit.
I believe resilience is the ultimate life-skill. A resilient person stays calm under pressure and maintains a healthy perspective. He remembers his life still has purpose and meaning. He knows a better day is coming.
Resilience is an absolute requirement for anyone in leadership. People won’t follow someone who is not resilient. Resilience builds confidence among staff. Resilience is a must for members of any team. It’s required for organizations in an age of constant change.
Resilience is not developed when we get knocked down; that’s just when the level of resilience in us is revealed. The knocks will come our way; the time to develop resiliency is before the knocks come.
THE EXPERIENCE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
Paul had lots of opportunity to demonstrate resilience. He knew rejection and desertion. He was beaten, stoned and imprisoned. He knew disease, shipwreck and misunderstanding. He was forsaken by some of his associates. He had many reasons to quit, but he was resilient. He kept bouncing back.
His secret, and the key to developing resilience in our lives, is found in 2 Corinthians 4:1-10. Paul explains it in detail.
1. Reaffirm your call to ministry.
Paul said he knew who called him and he knew what he had been asked to do. He had a ministry and he knew the One he was serving. This was at the root of his faith, courage and determination. He said, Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:1). He didn’t despair when he was in difficulty because he knew where his ministry came from.
Every one of us is a minister. That doesn’t mean we all get up on the platform and preach, but it does mean that as a part of the body of Christ, we have a function to fulfill within the body.
Remember the One you are living for. Your life has purpose. You have a calling. Knowing this will help you bounce back when you are knocked down.
2. Renounce the ways of the world.
The world tries to get us to compromise our convictions and our ways of living. Never is this temptation greater than when we are down and discouraged. Paul determined early in his ministry to be ethical and principled.
He said, We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2).
3. Realize people have been blinded by the god of this world.
Sometimes the people who attack you think they are doing God a favor. Some people who criticize you don’t realize they are doing the devil’s work. I’ve remembered this when being criticized by some modern-day Pharisees. They just didn’t realize they were speaking for the devil.
Paul understood this and said, The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Always be aware that Jesus never called you to a life of ease. He said there would be opposition, suffering and hardship. The devil sees to it that what Jesus said comes true, and often uses the people in your life to do his work. Jesus knew this when he was on the cross. He said that they don’t know what they are doing.
4. Resolve to make Jesus your life-message
The world doesn’t get offended when we talk about God, but there is a great reaction when you mention Jesus. The devil doesn’t mind you talking about God, but he gets mad when you talk about Jesus. In our world today, it is the message of Jesus that gets a reaction and brings opposition.
I’ve watched evangelists and preachers tiptoe around this. In order to attract people, they talk about God; in order not to offend people, they leave out any mention of Jesus. That strips the gospel of its intrinsic power.
Paul’s convictions were not for sale. He was settled in his mind as to the very essence of his life and ministry. He said, For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5). The person, Jesus, and his work, the cross and resurrection, were at the center of Paul’s ministry.
When things are tough, the temptation is to compromise the message of Jesus. We think that by soft-peddling the message we will not offend anyone. Compromising is the easy way out, but it is not the way to bounce back. And it’s not the way to accomplish anything in the kingdom of God.
5. Recognize we are just jars of clay.
The more important we think we are, the more difficult it is to handle difficulty. When I remember that I’m really nothing special, I find it easier to cope with opposition. When I remember that I am nothing and that he is everything, I see my situation as an opportunity for God’s power to be demonstrated.
Paul said, We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7).
We are just jars of clay. We are not steel tanks. Anything good that happens, is because God’s all-surpassing power is at work in and through our lives.
BOUNCING BACK
Keep your life centered on Jesus. Accept the support of friends. Grab the teachable moments. Learn the necessary lessons. Keep things in perspective and take the long-range view of life. Maintain a hopeful attitude because a better day is coming. Avoid seeing your predicament as an insurmountable problem. Take decisive action each day, keep moving toward your goals and always stay focused on Jesus.
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I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.
powerful indeed