What's Your Adversity Quotient?

It's 2024, and with all that we've been through in the past 4 years, it's really tempting to give up. We've been through a pandemic; an experience like nothing we've ever seen before. I still remember wearing gloves, mask and eye cover to the grocery store so that I can queue up for the ability to buy food. Then there was the economic downturn that's hit hardest in the last few years. Coupled with the brunt of inflation, and then an election year with the most unprecedented things happening. It has been incredibly difficult. With all that's been going on in the macro society, I can't imagine what you've been going through in your personal life. I know for me the craziest changes have happened, in what feels like, all at once. Some magnificent and others tiring. We all have a range of adversity happening to us, and the crazy thing is, it's not going to get better anytime soon. There was a time when I used to think that because I believed in Jesus, that I could have faith all the way to a perfect life. Even then, when adversity happened, I'd panic and wonder why. It was surprising to me how much I had to overcome to become anything tangible in life. Sometimes it'd feel like everything was happening to me, and I was just confused why. Some of you might feel like this even right now. You might be feeling like you just can't catch a break, or like when you approach your rest, another thing keeps cropping up.

If this is you, I want to share two things with you:

1. Adversity happens to everyone, even Christians.

2. Adversity can be good for you, but you have to raise your adversity quotient.

Adversity happens to everyone, even Christians.

We're not different from Jesus, He was never without adversity. One scripture, that thought me much about adversity was John 5. In this scripture, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, yet the Pharisees persecuted Him. He had helped a man who was an invalid (lame, sick, weak) for 38 years, and all the Pharisees saw was that he didn't obey their interpretation of the sabbath! A man was loosed from bondage and all they saw was someone who didn't keep their rules. If that's not the definition of "I can't catch a break" I don't know what is. This same group of people looked for every means to frustrate Jesus ministry, yet Jesus still thrived. Why? He was doing what the father was doing. He lived for the Lord. There's something about looking at your life from the lens of the father and simply living everyday to obey Him. That's how we overcome adversity. We overcome by complete submission and Jesus had that.

Adversity can be good for you, but you have to raise your adversity quotient.

Jesus had to live with adversity, but it did not get him down or cause Him to give up. Rather it made Him more influential and effective. Adversity is the mystery for bringing out the greatness inside of you. It is God's instrument for the making of a man. James 1:5 says, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.".

(James 1: 2 -4)  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The ease at which you react to adversity with perseverance shows your current adversity quotient. Our adversity quotient is simply a measure of how we deal with setbacks and obstacles, and as a Christian, especially if you want to fulfill your purpose, you must have a decent one. It is the only way to work out what needs to be done in you to run with your vision (Habakuk 2:2), so let it work.