How Linus Deals With Problems: Run away
Remember the cartoon series, Peanuts? In one of the scenes, Linus and Charlie Brown are walking along and chatting with one another. Linus says, “I don’t like to face problems head on. I think the best way to solve problems is to avoid them. In fact, this is a distinct philosophy of mine. No problem is so big or so complicated that it can’t be run away from!”
At the beginning of this message, I quoted Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones with these words “A man who does not understand the nature of the problem he is confronting is a man who is already doomed to failure.” The quote continues, “Christian people are like first-year college students - they think at first that every subject is quite simple, there is no difficulty. Well, we know what is likely to happen to such when they face an examination! The first thing you have to do is to understand the nature and the character of your problem. So we have to realize that we are called, in the Christian life, to a battle, not to a life of ease. To a battle, to a warfare, to a wrestle, to a struggle.”
Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we are in a battle “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
From a sermon by Rick George, Knowing is Half the Battle, 10/29/2009