I’d like you to think for a moment about the rewards that await you in eternity as a follower of Jesus Christ. We are exhorted in many places to fix our minds on heaven.

If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1–2)

Are you suffering? Does your current trouble have you feeling confined, restricted, without options and with no way of escape? While suffering is painful, it produces a precious opportunity to know the comfort of God. We never discover the depth of God’s compassion until we get in a place where we need God’s compassion desperately. The apostle Paul wrote that God “comforts us in all our afflictions” (2 Cor. 1:4).  In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul relayed a harrowing trial he had recently encountered, “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired for life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Cor. 1: 8-9). Have you ever experienced an affliction so great you did not think you would make it through? Have you called out to God in desperation for deliverance?  Paul did not want the Christians in Corinth to be ignorant about the “abundant” trials they would face, but more importantly he did not want them to be ignorant about God’s “abundant” comfort in adversity for His beloved children (2 Cor. 1:5).

In the counseling office we often encounter people with hopeless thoughts. As we face disappointments, losses, and fatigue in our day to day lives, we may occasionally lose sight of hope. It’s a miserable condition to be in, but one that “is common to man.” In Psalm 6:6 the writer said, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.” Sounds wretched doesn’t it?

The book of Proverbs identifies several types of individuals who are especially prone to mishandling conflict. (The common denominator in the life of these individuals is several Hebrew words generally rendered as strife or contention.) When an individual continually gives himself over to a particular sin, he eventually becomes bound by that sin. At some point the individual may rightly be categorized according to the name of the sin that he allowed to master him.