The Four Rs
By Marlene J. Chase
This article does not pertain to reading, writing, ‘rithmetic and recess, which make up a large portion of the schoolchild’s life, but to four “r’s” which can take you from defeat to triumphant living. Someone has noted that only one small letter – an r – spells the difference between being overcome with the trials and traumas of life and being an overcomer.
We have all come to various crossroads in our lives when we felt hopeless, overwhelmed, and unable to cope. We were simply overcome! Perhaps St. Paul might well have succumbed to the temptation to give up everything. He speaks of beatings and shipwrecks, of being hounded by his enemies and deserted by his friends. Yet, he persevered to the end and was able to say “I have run the race. I have finished the course.” The Bible provides at least four “r’s” which can spell the difference between despair and hope. No doubt Paul had learned these well, not as some kind of magic formula but as truths taught by our Lord Himself:
• Return
If we would be overcomers in life, we must return to the God of all living. Without the guiding hand of Him who made us, understands all about us and loves us, none of us could cope, much less triumph over our human failings.
“Come let us return to the Lord” writes the prophet Hosea (6:1) “He will heal us ... He will bind up our wounds ...He will restore us.” God applauds our return home to the family to which we really belong.
However far we may have strayed from the true source of life, we may still hear, like a faint echo of Eden, some long ago, almost forgotten awareness that we were not intended to be what we’ve become.
A tiger cub lost to its mother and raised by a family of goats one day met the tiger king who asked why he was bleating and nibbling grass. Didn’t he realize that he was not really a goat at all but a tiger? The cub kept nibbling and bleating like a goat until at last the tiger king gave the cub his first taste of raw meat. It was then that the cub came to himself and let out a roar befitting a jungle tiger.
We were created for God, to love Him, to enjoy Him, and nothing short of this will provide satisfaction and the ability to see beyond the immediate pain to the glory beyond.
• Rely
Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” The path of the overcomer is the path of complete reliance on God.
When it comes down to it, there’s precious little that can be relied on in life. Money, prestige, fame, even human relationships are insufficient to answer our deep needs. There’s only one who can be relied on. That’s because he loves us with an everlasting love. God tells us in Jeremiah, “I can never forget you, because your names are written on the palms of my hands.
• Rest
“Come to Me,” says Jesus in Matthew 11:28, “all you who are weary and burdened,and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior can daily rest on God’s promise to sustain us, to keep us. He’s promised that nothing will be able to tear us away from Him if we daily give ourselves in reliance on Him.
The hymn writer gives us the beautiful carol with a stanza that speaks to us all:
And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men. Then tolled the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.”
And because this is true, we can rejoice with incredible joy!
• Rejoice
Paul writes in the little book of Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I’ll say it again, rejoice” (4:4). And this from a man who had been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, wrongly accused, suffered unutterable abuse! What does he have to be so happy about?
The answer brings us back full circle to our beginning comments about returning to the Lord - to the one who created this whole experiment of life and who thought it worthwhile enough that He became one of us. “I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” Jesus said. “I’ve come so that your full may be full.
God is our source of hope, our help, and our strength to overcome life’s trials. “Behold, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” Return, rely, rest and rejoice. Four “r’s” for becoming an overcomer!
By Marlene J. Chase
This article does not pertain to reading, writing, ‘rithmetic and recess, which make up a large portion of the schoolchild’s life, but to four “r’s” which can take you from defeat to triumphant living. Someone has noted that only one small letter – an r – spells the difference between being overcome with the trials and traumas of life and being an overcomer.
We have all come to various crossroads in our lives when we felt hopeless, overwhelmed, and unable to cope. We were simply overcome! Perhaps St. Paul might well have succumbed to the temptation to give up everything. He speaks of beatings and shipwrecks, of being hounded by his enemies and deserted by his friends. Yet, he persevered to the end and was able to say “I have run the race. I have finished the course.” The Bible provides at least four “r’s” which can spell the difference between despair and hope. No doubt Paul had learned these well, not as some kind of magic formula but as truths taught by our Lord Himself:
• Return
If we would be overcomers in life, we must return to the God of all living. Without the guiding hand of Him who made us, understands all about us and loves us, none of us could cope, much less triumph over our human failings.
“Come let us return to the Lord” writes the prophet Hosea (6:1) “He will heal us ... He will bind up our wounds ...He will restore us.” God applauds our return home to the family to which we really belong.
However far we may have strayed from the true source of life, we may still hear, like a faint echo of Eden, some long ago, almost forgotten awareness that we were not intended to be what we’ve become.
A tiger cub lost to its mother and raised by a family of goats one day met the tiger king who asked why he was bleating and nibbling grass. Didn’t he realize that he was not really a goat at all but a tiger? The cub kept nibbling and bleating like a goat until at last the tiger king gave the cub his first taste of raw meat. It was then that the cub came to himself and let out a roar befitting a jungle tiger.
We were created for God, to love Him, to enjoy Him, and nothing short of this will provide satisfaction and the ability to see beyond the immediate pain to the glory beyond.
• Rely
Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” The path of the overcomer is the path of complete reliance on God.
When it comes down to it, there’s precious little that can be relied on in life. Money, prestige, fame, even human relationships are insufficient to answer our deep needs. There’s only one who can be relied on. That’s because he loves us with an everlasting love. God tells us in Jeremiah, “I can never forget you, because your names are written on the palms of my hands.
• Rest
“Come to Me,” says Jesus in Matthew 11:28, “all you who are weary and burdened,and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior can daily rest on God’s promise to sustain us, to keep us. He’s promised that nothing will be able to tear us away from Him if we daily give ourselves in reliance on Him.
The hymn writer gives us the beautiful carol with a stanza that speaks to us all:
And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men. Then tolled the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.”
And because this is true, we can rejoice with incredible joy!
• Rejoice
Paul writes in the little book of Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I’ll say it again, rejoice” (4:4). And this from a man who had been stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, wrongly accused, suffered unutterable abuse! What does he have to be so happy about?
The answer brings us back full circle to our beginning comments about returning to the Lord - to the one who created this whole experiment of life and who thought it worthwhile enough that He became one of us. “I’ve come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” Jesus said. “I’ve come so that your full may be full.
God is our source of hope, our help, and our strength to overcome life’s trials. “Behold, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” Return, rely, rest and rejoice. Four “r’s” for becoming an overcomer!
copyright © 2008 Marlene J. Chase. All rights reserved.