The Difference Between Challenge and Struggle

The concepts of challenge and struggle seem to go hand-in-hand, in fact, to a great extent; they are treated as one and the same. But in actual fact, there is a world of difference between the two. Identifying this difference, I believe, is key to understanding why the institutional church system does not work and is also the key to understanding something about yourself.

Take on a Challenge!

I previously discussed the challenge type of preaching in Challenges Part 1 and Challenges Part 2. In these posts I discussed the way in which the church often attempts to overcome stagnation by motivating its members to “take on a challenge”. The thinking behind this is that if believers were to “take on a challenge”, their lives, and the church, would be better for it.

This type of thinking is derived from positive members of the church who find that when they take on a challenge, either intentionally through confidence, or unintentionally by life and other people – they feel better for it and something good comes from it. This is then turned into a formula by which it is believed that if a person “takes on a challenge” – they will become better people as a result.

Glorifying Suffering

I suppose this challenge mentality has been the key driver behind glorifying suffering: it is assumed that suffering is God’s way of testing us in order to make us better people, to teach us something and to make our lives better. I think this attitude does put a positive spin on things, but I question how valid it is. I don’t doubt that something good can com from suffering, and even that people can become better in some way through it, but I question the entire attitude towards suffering; more than anything, I challenge the entire “take on a challenge” mentality that is so prevalent in the church.

Taking Action

It would appear that the church is besotted with taking action. This is understandable as for centuries it seems that the church seemed to have very little relevance to society. People nowadays see Christianity as a ritual that has very little practicality when it comes to everyday life. There are some Christians who are desperate to change that mindset; so they attempt to do this by getting Christians to do things. But this path often leads to the typical, charitable efforts that we are so used to seeing amongst Christians – and nothing more.

The challenge type of pulpit message is designed to get Christians doing things, taking on more responsibility, getting outside of their comfort zone – all in an effort to make positive, lasting changes to the church, other people and themselves.

Challenges could be described as adverse circumstances; they are the difficulties that lie between where we are now and where we would like to be; they are the mountains that stand in our path, which Jesus Himself said we are to move by our faith.

But I cannot help but believe that problems occur when we see taking action as the cure-all formula for apathy and stagnation.

Action versus Thought

I believe that the key to understanding the difference between challenge and struggle is to be found in the difference between action and thought. There are often times when the difficulties in our path are caused by other people and those things, which are out of our control. That is were we are blameless when it comes to creating those difficulties.

I believe that for many Christians, the obstacles standing in their way are actually self-created. These obstacles are not challenges, as such; they are the consequences of a person’s own thought life. Struggle is a state of being caused by a person’s beliefs, attitudes and patterns of thinking. Such people cannot be helped by encouraging them to “take on a challenge”. In fact, taking on more responsibility for people in a state of struggle can cause more trouble for other people as well as themselves. Negative minded people do not take on challenges because of the awful stress that results when they are exposed to circumstances that oppose what they want or expect. Anxious people like things to be just the way they want them to be; the slightest thing that happens that is contrary to what they desire, can create a whole world of hurt for them.

This way of thinking gets us away from the focus on action and onto thought. Every action we take originates in a thought, those thoughts lead to desires which prompt the action. It is assumed that many Christians don’t do the things they should and shun responsibility because they are lazy and they need to be motivated from the pulpit. I find this is not the case and that they shun responsibility and challenges out of fear.

Anxiety and Confusion

When a person is struggling with anxiety, their sense of judgement goes haywire! It is very difficult to make decisions and to know what is right for you, when your mind is full of anxious thoughts. It is for this reason that a lot of Christians always seem to be confused and not know what is right for them. There is a lack of confidence present when confusion is rife: how can a person be confident in making life choices when they are confused? It is for this reason that Christians are often seeking the advice of other people, when they should really know what is right for them on the inside, in their heart.

Unfortunately, this confusion and indecisiveness potentially leads to abuse, as they are told by strong-willed people, inside and outside the church, what they should or should not do. If a person was not so anxious, they would have all the sense of wise discernment and confidence that they needed in order to do what they need to do. In fact, I find that the “three graces” of wisdom, confidence and favour that we all need to get ahead in life, come as a result of being positive and clear-minded. Anxiety is the root cause of most, if not all, of the dysfunction that we experience in life.

Merely “taking on a challenge” is not sufficient to bring a person out of this dysfunction. Such people require whatever knowledge and assurance they need in order to bring much needed peace of mind, assurance and a sense of security. The Gospel, the true Gospel of Christ, is so designed to bring this sense of security. However, the Gospel has been twisted and taken out of context to the point in which is has been wielded against people like a weapon – a weapon of fear and manipulation.

I am convinced that the Gospel, the Good News, is meant to bring assurance to people, to the point by which they cease from their own efforts to please God and to control their lives.

The Effects of Struggle

When a person is in a condition of struggle due to anxiety, they experience struggle in life. It is difficult to comprehend the extent to which anxiety affects a person. I believe that such effects are widespread, throughout every single area of a person’s life. Anxiety affects relationships, health, career – as well as the obvious affects on mental and emotional wellbeing. The result is often a fear of commitment, a sense of powerlessness; this leads to apathy and procrastination. People who are in a state of struggle will often argue with other people, and end-up getting nowhere. People who struggle will start a project and abandon it half way through.

It can be really confusing when you are in a state of struggle, because everything seems to be against you. This makes you wonder whether you are being tested by God, and as the church recommends, you should just persevere. The church often tries to encourage people going through a hard time, by using platitudes such as, “If you’re going through a hard time, it’s because the devil is attacking you because he knows that God has something wonderful planned for you.”

The whole subject of suffering is a complex one and there has been a lot of teaching, and opinion, on the subject. We can experience difficulties in life for seemingly no reason of our own making – perhaps it is just what we are meant to do. Then again, a lot of the challenges that we do face could very well be of our own making. Grace or no grace, I still believe in the law of sowing and reaping: if you are rude towards people, don’t be surprised if they are rude to you in return!

¹ "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults - unless, of course, you want the same treatment.

² That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.

Matthew 7:1-2 MSG

In my experience, like attracts like: negative minded people attract negative people and negative circumstances. Conversely, positive minded people attract positive people and positive circumstances. I have found it at times rather uncanny at the way in which I seem to have experienced so many things go wrong in my life – it all comes down to a person’s thinking.

One way of looking at it is that God’s way is peace; so as soon as you step outside of that peace, you are moving away from God’s best for your life. It does not really matter what you are facing in life, you can and should face it in peace: that’s what patience is all about.

I think what often gets in the way of peace is when we hold onto a concept in favour of letting it go and experiencing peace. When Christianity becomes more about principles to a person, than love peace, a person can become lost in pain and struggle as they go on a moral crusade. Take for instance the attitude many Christians have towards sex outside of marriage: Christians would rather intimidate and ostracise someone who fornicates, than to accept them and maintain peace.

Jesus Himself rebuked His disciples for losing their cool and getting anxious – even when it seriously looked as if they were about to drown in a boat caught in the midst of a storm. Yes, it does actually appear from scripture that God expects people to maintain a state of peace – even in life threatening situations.

Unsurprisingly, I believe Apostle Paul is the champion we are to look to in regards to this state of mind. No matter what Paul experienced, he still had peace of mind and trust in God. Paul experienced a shipwreck, he was beaten and he was thrown in prison – that is enough to annihilate any sense of trust towards God in the lives of many people.

If Paul would have associated the challenges he was going through to God’s acceptance of him – I think Paul would have been a very insecure person. But Paul was emphatic of the Father’s love for him. This faith did not prevent bad things from happening in the life of Paul. But I believe that Paul was strong in faith: he knew the Father’s love for Him and he was a secure, positive minded person who experienced peace of mind at most times.

Consider this for a moment: how on earth have we taken the challenges of Paul in the New Testament and made the same New Testament into a system of getting luxuries and special privileges from God? I know it is difficult; I’ve struggled with these things myself.

Insecure people lose their peace at the slightest, most trivial things: when it rains when they had a picnic planned or they miss the train on the way to work in the morning. Some people get angry and feel their world is falling apart if their football team loses on Saturday!

Simply telling a person in state of struggle that they should “take on a challenge”, is insufficient to bring a about a change in their life. No amount of shaming such as person is going to help.

I think one of the biggest issues with regards to this situation, is that the church attempts to cater for different people at different levels of spiritual maturity, confidence and mental stability. We see a one-size-fits-all approach in church in many things. This approach just makes things confusing as the pastor seeks to encourage people into taking decisive action and furthering the kingdom (and his own church).

The Solution

I don’t believe it is possible to overcome a condition of struggle by simply “taking on a challenge”. I’ve tried to make myself do interesting and exciting things in order to try to please other people, become happier and to look as if I’m serving God – but it really does not work if you are in a state of apathy and struggle.

As with anything, the best way to deal with a problem is to identify and tackle the root cause. The root cause of struggle, I believe, is anxiety. The root cause of anxiety is not trusting in God and trying to control your own life.

The Gospel message is described as The Gospel of Peace. The Gospel is meant to bring a person peace, to a point whereby they cease to worry about things and control their own lives according to their own plans. So we can appreciate the devastating effects of mixing Old Covenant law with New Testament grace: the result is an intoxicating mixture of declaring that you are right with God, but at the same time, making stringent efforts to keep rules and principles. The result of this is inevitably a sense of insecurity as you come to realise that your efforts to be right with God by your own works – is simply never, ever good enough.

As always, meditating on the message of grace is a sure-fire antidote to spiritual burn-out and the anxiety of trying to control your own life. The promises of the New Testament point towards a life in which God is in control, making the plans and guiding you along all the way. We are to sit back and relax as God motivates and inspires us to live our lives according to His perfect plan – His perfect, not ours.

I raised the issue of bearing in mind the detrimental effects of having wrong beliefs and attitudes, as well as a lack of discipline, in my recent blog post entitled The Fear Factor. I hope by now that you have gathered a gist for my utter resentment of Christians being manipulated by fear tactics and rule keeping in the church. However, I still ponder the effects of having wrong beliefs and attitudes. How we are to process this concept and consider it throughout this journey into God’s grace – I’m still working on that.