City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

“8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

1 Corinthians 16:8-9 (NASB)

Reflection

When I was in my mid-thirties, I was a member of a church in Northwest Houston. The pastor was a fascinating man. He was a charismatic leader, but he was more than that. Not long after joining, he invited me to join a group of ten other men he was mentoring.

At one of our mentoring meetings, he had us take a test developed by a PhD, Paul Stoltz, author of the book, The Adversity Quotient. The premise of the book was that one of the best predictors of how successful a person will be in life is their ability to endure adversity. The test was designed to determine just that—how resilient each of us was and able to endure what life might throw at us. So, we all took the test, got our scores, and then discussed the scores. 

Of course we all wanted to know our pastor’s adversity quotient. As it turned out, he was in the 98^th percentile. In other words, he was more resilient and better able to endure adversity than 98% of the general population. It didn’t surprise us. He had been very successful at just about everything he sought out to do, but his success was accompanied by great adversity.  When he lived in Kansas, his first wife was killed in a plane crash. He then moved to Houston, remarried and became a successful businessman in the real estate business. He was so wealthy that at one time he owned nine cars, including a Ferrari, an enormous house, horses, and stables. He was a sought out speaker and spoke at events with renowned author and motivational speaker Stephen Covey.

But in the mid-1980s the oil bust took his business down, as it did with others in Texas, and he filed one of the largest individual bankruptcies in Houston up to that time. Then his house burned down, he got cancer, and his oldest son died in a motorcycle accident. By the time I met him he was in full-time ministry, leading a growing church in Northwest Houston. He had accomplished much in his life because of his resilience. Any one of the horrible events he suffered would have been enough to cause other men with less resiliency to throw in the towel, but he had an incredibly high adversity quotient.

Why is one’s adversity quotient such a good predictor of their success in life? Because adversity in life is a certainty. As Jesus indicated, the question is not whether the storm will come, but how prepared one is to endure it. See Matthew 7:24-27. Resiliency ensures continuity in one’s life. It keeps negative events from taking one off God’s intended course before they reach the prize. 

The Apostle Paul was one tough dude. Paul survived the loss of his successful career and reputation as a Pharisee, imprisonment, being stoned, being flogged, a shipwreck, hunger, temporary blindness, and a permanent demonic thorn in his side. My guess is Paul’s adversity quotient was up in the 98-99% range as well. So, what if Paul losing his status as a well-known Pharisee was more than he could have endured, and he had decided not to continue following Jesus? We could ask the same about any one of these other adversities he suffered. But he endured, and thank God he did.

The scripture above (I Cor. 16:8-9) appears in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, but it was written while he was in Ephesus, at a time Luke recounts in Acts 19. As Paul says, despite that he was facing much adversity in Ephesus, he decided to stay there because he saw the opportunity. He would later describe what happened at Ephesus as his having “fought with wild beasts.” I Cor. 15:32. We don’t know if this is literal or metaphorical but it is certainly historical. Paul’s bold ministry disrupted the idol trade in Ephesus and spawned a riot that put his life in danger, and yet he was ready to go into the theater to preach the gospel to the riotous crowd, an act that likely would have cost him his life. Fortunately his friends dissuaded him.

Paul was right to stay on at Ephesus though. Ephesus was the largest and most important city in the Roman Empire behind Rome. It was a great prize for the kingdom of God. Paul knew there would be adversity, but he also saw the opportunity. Paul understood that opportunity hides in adversity, and only those who endure it can grasp the prize for the kingdom of God.

Application

How do you respond to adversity? Do you see it as another reason to quit, or as a promise of the prize that lay on the other side?

Prayer

Lord, help me to trust in You to endure adversity, so I can accomplish what You have called me to accomplish for Your Kingdom. Amen.