I have a challenge for you, stick with me until the end on this blog. This world wants us to focus on our problems. I have often said that your problems are not unique, but your God is. We avoid problems, but “Peace is an entryway and not an escape”. Let’s face it when we have problems in our life, it can and will affect our peace. We don’t like problems. If you remember having math homework as a kid or if you have kids who are assigned math homework you are probably familiar with the moans, groans, and complaints. We don’t like problems! We want answers, and we want solutions, we don’t want to waste our time on problems. It is human nature to avoid problems. We avoid problems and avoiding problems tends only to lead to more problems. If you don’t do your math homework it will eventually lead to failing the math test. Pastor Andy Stanley said it best when he said “if you don’t pay attention to your demons they will live in the cellar of your soul and lift weights”. WHOA…. How did we go from math problems to demons lifting weights? Today, we will talk about how to live in the solution, not in the problem.
Well, I want to talk about how important problem solving is in our lives. Problem solving leads to solutions. If we avoid problems the problems will consume us. When we live in a solution we grow and make progress. I am a firm believe that Jesus is the infinite solution. We must face our problems. Short term avoidance leads to long term pain. That is where short term pain, long term gain comes from. Not facing our problems is one of the best tricks the devil uses. The devil wants us to live in our problems and stay in them. Over time when enough problems pile up, we take on roles we were never meant to take on. We take on the of feeling like failure. Have you ever said something like “I am such a failure”, or “I feel like a failure” and eventually that list of criticism will grow. Before you know it speaking affirmations into your life will feel like a foreign language.
Have you ever felt worse about yourself or envied others; when you see other people have success, or catching on quickly, or seem to have natural abilities? Misery does love company. As author Jon Gordon says, “No energy vampires allowed”. Do you bring life into a room or suck the energy dry? Now all a sudden here you are comparing yourself to other people. This has really snowballed fast on the topic of “problems”! It all started from avoiding problems. Now we are living through our problems. What if there was a solution? This is not a sales pitch, or cure all. I am not going to give you steps to fix your problems. The Truth is as long as you have been avoiding problems, the solution might take a while. The fact is that some of us might feel broken because of our problems. We have gone from avoiding problems to feeling hopeless and broken. The enemy wants us to beat ourselves up not push ourselves.
You see when we live in the solution that is Jesus Christ, we are learning how to push ourselves to be the best versions of ourselves. There is a way can find our power, love and self-control. Notice I didn’t say to be perfect. Perfection is the destination, but progress is the journey.
My name is Ben Hinton for those that do not know me, and I am child of God. Welcome to my blog called living in the solution not the problems. I am an author and a speaker. I wrote the book Let faith Grow Running Through Adversity. It is also available as an audio book. I sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2013. By the grace of God, I ran my first half marathon 8 weeks later. My book gives a little more context about my life leading up my brain injury. I recommend the book for that context and for the overall encouragement it provides. For now, let me give you a equation since we are talking about facing problems. Pastor Carlson changed my life when he gave me a verse during one of our conversations after my brain injury. I started brain rehab in 20014 almost exactly a year after my brain injury. I wasn’t avoiding my problems, in fact between insurance and all other kinds of loopholes my wife had to jump through it took that long to get services. I remember taking some initial cognitive evaluations and the test results labeled me as having the reading and mathematical comprehension of a 3rd grade level. This label and narrative became my most daunting hurdle. I wanted the solution, but this seemed impossible. That’s when Pastor Carlson gave me my life verse in a conversation. He brought up 2 Timothy 1:7
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power love and self-discipline.
This verses uses the NIV translation. God did not give us a spirit of timidity. He gave us a spirit of Power Love and Self Control. That is Jesus in us. I realized I had a choice. This was the solution to my problem. I could use power, love and self-control. Over the years when we live our lives with Curiosity + clarity = knowledge and knowledge is power. When our lives are filled with Chaos, we just simply have timidity. When we have timidity, we are back to living in our problems. Our problems are not unique, but our God is. Let us live in the solution today.
When it comes to facing problems, we need to lean in with curiosity. We can’t avoid them. I ran my first half marathon 8 weeks later because I was curiosity. I was so curious it drove me. Eventually My curiosity became my clarity. I kept on improving as a runner more but more importantly myself relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me finish with this question, is it possible that when you avoid problems your taking your curiosity out of the picture? I believe that’s the real problem. If we don’t have curiosity, we will never use clarity to find power. Are you curious about Jesus if you are then I encourage you to lean into that? If you are a believer in Christ, I encourage you to spread the good news.
I would rather live a life of many failures than one regret. I know that people live in “avoiding” things when they are older have the biggest regrets. I have failed many times in my journey, but that’s the beauty. Failure doesn’t define me, that’s what my father does. I ran my first half marathon in 2013 with a finish time of 2:10:57 in 2023 I ran a personal marathon half best at 1:25:04. In 2015 I ran my full marathon in 5:49:00. In 2022 I ran my Marathon personal best in 3:07:20. Isn’t it amazing how much progress we can make when we face our problems? This can work in an area of our life. I hope this has encouraged you. Until next time Let faith Grow and let Fear Go.
-Ben Hinton
