I think what God wants to see is if you patiently, quietly, and without fuss or grief endure what life sets out for you.
Where other, weaker men would throw up their hands in despair, abandon hope, or throw a tantrum at their circumstance and treatment, that is where you are to sit, allow, accept, and quietly continue carrying forward.
This is what sets a saint apart from common men. He does not whine and revile against circumstance. He accepts what is and does his work. All the emotions, the negative expressions, the freakouts, and impulsive actions that the mind wants to carry out—
If we can sit beside the mind and say to it, It’s okay. I know you want to freak out. I know you want to throw your painting into the trash bin. That’s okay; you’re allowed to feel those things. But under no circumstance do we express or act upon those impulses.
We are higher than that. This is to make manifest your godliness, your Christ nature. This is what God is asking you to do. The more justified the cause that makes you want to scream and spaz, the stronger you are to call upon your Christ nature.
All challenges are invitations to be closer to God. There is no sense in crying and saying, “Why God? Why do I have to go through this? Why don’t you solve my problems? Why don’t you answer me? Why do you give me such challenges—don’t you love me?”
When in reality, the greatest love God can give you is the challenge because that is exactly what will bring forth the Christ nature within you.
Superseding the challenges, subordinating the animalistic mind and its tendencies and desires, is what God is calling you to do.
There comes a day when the problems and issues in front of you are no longer your focus; they no longer draw in your attention so deeply.
Your focus is on the Christ nature that is able to transcend the imminent experience. That is the beauty within you—it is a shining, golden, glimmering treasure so beautiful that you would rather watch it than the issues of the world.
I would rather watch a hero walking through flames than watch a comfortable man face no challenge, no resistance.
Once you love the experience of challenge, then every obstacle, every mountain becomes a flat, open road. No challenge is bigger or more difficult than any other challenge.
These are all just instruments God lovingly crafted and sent to you to make you more like Him. You accept them all with love and grace, even the greatest failure.
Facing the highest embarrassment, the highest disrespect, is a joy to you because it is the ultimate opportunity to transcend your human nature.
There could be no greater gift from God than to be persecuted without cause. It gives you the opportunity to entirely let go of every last vestige of human nature. These are the gates of heaven. This calls forth your divine nature. This is what Christ passed through. He was setting the example of how to be in the world.