Struggle. Not exactly a comforting word. It certainly doesn’t sound like a splendid experience. I’m fact, the word is quite anxiety inducing. Even Merriam-Webster defines it negatively.
struggle
verb strug·gle \ ˈstrə-gəl \struggled; struggling
intransitive verb
1 :to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition struggling with the problem
2 :to proceed with difficulty or with great effort
Strenuous. Violent. Difficult. Opposition. Great effort. It sounds hard. It sounds exhausting. In fact, it is exhausting. We all know it. We all have those days. We all have our different struggles and challenges.
Back in high school my struggles were simpler. Or, at least they seem simpler as I look back now. But at the time they seemed so hard. They were worries like “Will anyone ask me to the dance?” And ” Will I be able to keep up my A in Biology? ” As I grew to be a college student my struggles seemed to grow with me. “How will I ever be able to pay for a college degree?” “It’s so hard to balance two jobs while going to school!”
Now that I’m past those particular struggles I can look back and think about how silly it seems that those times were actually really hard for me. I remember having breakdowns and getting stressed out about those things just the same way I have breakdowns today. Today my struggles are more like “I watched someone die today and I couldn’t do anything .” Or ” I hope somehow I’ll figure out how to pay my mortgage, bills, and take care of this entire house all by myself. ”
Back when I was in high school I found a verse in the Bible that completely motivated me to keep on going. It was Colossians 1:29. It was my favorite verse because no matter what I was going through it would comfort me and remind me that was my job in life. I remember memorizing it and repeating it whenever I was feeling worn down. I still have it memorized today, in the original NIV version, as that is what version I used back then.
Yet to this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me.
When I first thought about that verse I imagined a different type of struggle. Not an oppressive one, but a beautiful one. I imagined God’s powerful energy racing and struggling inside myself. Thinking about that struggle instead of my worldly life struggles gave me confidence that no matter what I was going through, I could overcome it because of His energy and power.
It wasn’t until many years after I came to rely on this verse so much that I realized that this last verse of the chapter is actually summing up the entire chapter that answers the “why” question. While I think the entire chapter is amazing -seriously, go read it- I think verses 28-29 really explain our purpose of struggling and labor in this life.
Colossians 1:28-29New Living Translation (NLT)
28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect[a] in their relationship to Christ.29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.
God’s energy struggles within us and we work so hard so that we can teach everyone about Jesus and present them perfect to Him. It’s such an encouragement to know that not only are we working towards an amazingly worthy goal, but that we don’t have to do it alone. We get to do it with the help of the power of Christ inside of us. That’s what makes it splendid.
So no matter what you’re struggling through, I hope these verses bring you comfort and encouragement. I hope you’ll join me in this big, splendid struggle called life.
