Cop-out or Opportunity?

by Rod Davis

If there is a shadow

I can't see it

If this is my cup

I'll learn to drink it

If there is a purpose

You'll reveal it

But for today I found my place

In the sufficiency of grace

In the sufficiency of grace* 

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” — Jesus

 (John 12:27-28a) 

What do you pray for when your “hour” comes? Every believer has one, you know—an hour of testing. We each face a season of intense testing that comes from time to time assaulting the senses and shaking us right down to the bone. It’s a point in time that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. In fact, it can even separate the sheep from the goats.  

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God―having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.  (2 Timothy 3:1-5) 

Here The Apostle Paul describes a world filled with hate, deceit, and greed. Times have not changed since. It’s the same today. We’re surrounded by people who have an insatiable bent toward selfishness. Therefore, one of the first lessons we learn in life is that the world is seldom just. Try as hard as you will, you won’t always get a fair shake. The reason for this is simple. The world stinks!  

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world―the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does―comes not from the Father but from the world.” — Jesus

(1 John 2:15-16) 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” — Jesus (John 15:18-19) 

Now, because of the world’s fallen condition, troubles abound for the believer. People hate us because we love the Savior. As a result, every true follower of Christ will eventually have his “hour”—his moment of truth. He will face his defining moment.  

Jesus encountered his hour and it filled his heart with anguish. There, in the midst of his agony, he was faced with a choice. How would he respond? “What shall I do?” He said. “Shall I cop-out and choose the easy way out? Shall I ask God to save me from this hour?” Then he answered his question with a resounding, “NO! This is why I was brought to this place in time. Father, this is my hour! And this is my purpose… to glorify your name!” 

How do you respond to your hour? Do you see it only as a time of anguish that should be avoided at all costs? Or… do you view it as an opportunity to press on, grow up in Christ and learn to walk in victory? More importantly, do you see it as a chance for your life to glorify the name of the LORD?  

Do you see a cop-out or an opportunity?

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* ‘Sufficiency of Grace’ recorded by Greg Long on his album, “Now”. ©2001 Word Entertainment, Inc.