Yesterday’s New York Times offered the following article: “7 Books To Help You Cope With Failure and Move Forward.” Here’s the tagline, or additional description, of the article: “Psychologists and other experts share the works they recommend to people who are struggling with guilt, shame or questions of what comes next.”
Want to know their choices? I’m neither recommending these suggestions nor discouraging them; I’m simply reporting them. I haven’t read any of these, nor do I intend to. Here they are:
What books/helps would you add to such a list?
What’s missing from this list? What resource best addresses the focus of this article, quoting, “People who are struggling with guilt, shame or questions of what comes next”?
God’s Word is our inexhaustible resource “for struggling with guilt, shame or questions of what comes next. Nothing else compares!
One quick glance: The apostle Peter knew about the need to cope. He had his share of ups and downs. Ups would include being called by Jesus to be a disciple, a chance to walk on water albeit for a very short time, getting to view Jesus’ brief transfiguration six months before the crucifixion.
But Peter had his share of downs too. The worst one: After boasting that he would rather die than deny that he knew Jesus, he did just that – three times. And then the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. And mere hours later, Jesus was dead. What followed was the longest weekend of Peter’s life. Hopeless, helpless, guilty. But on Sunday, everything changed….
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3,4)
But…challenges, hardships, difficulties. When these come (and they never stop coming this side of heaven!) it’s hard to be patient – we’d much rather take matters into our own hands, or at least give God some guidance in how to work things out for our best. But trials have a purpose: “(These have come) so that the proven character of your faith—which is more valuable than gold, which passes away even though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:7) Faith is refined, tested, strengthened. Gold becomes pure when you heat it to 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. I wonder how hot God must heat faith – your faith, my faith – to purify it.
No matter. Just know that he does it for our good, to strengthen us, to keep us focused on him, to result in praise, glory and honor to Jesus Christ. Peter would have us spend less time looking at the wind and the waves of the trials and challenges all around us (he knew a little something about this) and more time focusing on Him who not only walked on water, but conquered the world, Satan, and death.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, yet by believing in him, you are filled with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8,9)
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
Want to know their choices? I’m neither recommending these suggestions nor discouraging them; I’m simply reporting them. I haven’t read any of these, nor do I intend to. Here they are:
- Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson
- Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
- The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
- Rising Strong by Brené Brown
- Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
- Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
What books/helps would you add to such a list?
What’s missing from this list? What resource best addresses the focus of this article, quoting, “People who are struggling with guilt, shame or questions of what comes next”?
God’s Word is our inexhaustible resource “for struggling with guilt, shame or questions of what comes next. Nothing else compares!
One quick glance: The apostle Peter knew about the need to cope. He had his share of ups and downs. Ups would include being called by Jesus to be a disciple, a chance to walk on water albeit for a very short time, getting to view Jesus’ brief transfiguration six months before the crucifixion.
But Peter had his share of downs too. The worst one: After boasting that he would rather die than deny that he knew Jesus, he did just that – three times. And then the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. And mere hours later, Jesus was dead. What followed was the longest weekend of Peter’s life. Hopeless, helpless, guilty. But on Sunday, everything changed….
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3,4)
But…challenges, hardships, difficulties. When these come (and they never stop coming this side of heaven!) it’s hard to be patient – we’d much rather take matters into our own hands, or at least give God some guidance in how to work things out for our best. But trials have a purpose: “(These have come) so that the proven character of your faith—which is more valuable than gold, which passes away even though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:7) Faith is refined, tested, strengthened. Gold becomes pure when you heat it to 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. I wonder how hot God must heat faith – your faith, my faith – to purify it.
No matter. Just know that he does it for our good, to strengthen us, to keep us focused on him, to result in praise, glory and honor to Jesus Christ. Peter would have us spend less time looking at the wind and the waves of the trials and challenges all around us (he knew a little something about this) and more time focusing on Him who not only walked on water, but conquered the world, Satan, and death.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, yet by believing in him, you are filled with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8,9)
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand
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