TD Jakes - Don't Define Your Audit By a Season
As I stand on the stage of this text, I’m trying to tell you how to think your way through it. I’m trying to show you how not to audit your life over your season. I’m trying to show you that you are not defined by any isolated moment in your life. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy—let me put them in columns, let me weigh them out, let me put them on a scale so that I can have justice, because right now this isn’t fair; right now this isn’t right; right now this doesn’t feel good. But I have to put it on the scales, and I have to put something on the other side of my liabilities.
What are the assets? I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared. Right now, your scales are out of balance, and when your scales are out of balance, your life doesn’t feel like it’s worth living. When your scale is out of balance, you just want to slam the door and walk away and say, «I quit.» When you’re scared about it, you get tired of turning the other cheek. When your scales are out of balance, you get angry at everybody and everything, and sometimes—whether you admit it or not—you get angry at God. And sometimes—whether you admit it or not—you get angry at yourself. How can I get myself out here on this Edmund Pettus Bridge? How can I get myself on this cross? Father, if it be Thy will, let this bitter cup pass from me.
How could I get myself on this stage and endure the pain thereof? He asked me, «Was it worth it?» and I knew what I was supposed to say. But he asked me while they were beating me with billy clubs, and he asked me why they were nailing me to a tree, and he asked me while the rocks were being thrown against my head, and I couldn’t think straight, so I said, «I don’t know yet.»
Somebody I’m talking to right now, you don’t know yet. So I brought before you this morning somebody who has already been through it. Unless you’ve been stoned half to death, snake bitten, and sailed on ships that shipwrecked—and you had to float across on broken pieces—unless you have spent years locked up in a cold grotto, in a cave, or in a jail cell begging for a coat, then whatever else you’re suffering with cannot compare to the testimony of the apostle. For the man that I bring before you today underwent all of that, and he was still thinking about it.
I reckon I stood over my mother’s grave, and I reckon I stood in the hospital with her, trying to make sure she understood the difference between me and my brother. I reckon I watched my baby girl give birth to a baby boy, and I reckon there are moments in your life where you’re still counting it all up. I came to tell you: don’t stop counting, because God won’t be satisfied until your assets outweigh your liabilities. God won’t stop until your assets outweigh your liabilities.
I came to tell you that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed—not on us, not our jewelry, not our watches, not our cars—but the glory in us is a direct result of the sufferings of this present time. And that’s why I tell hell, it was good for me that I was afflicted. If I had not been afflicted, I wouldn’t have the power to stand where I’m standing right now.
It was good for me that people didn’t help me. It was good for me that I had to crawl through the crowd to touch the hem. It was good for me—it made me better, made me wiser, made me stronger, made me tougher, made me more resolute that I won’t let any devil just have what God gave me. I paid too much to get where I am right now. It was good for me that it didn’t come easy; it was good for me that I had to sweat for it, crawl for it, pray for it, and do without to get it, because it made me appreciate it.
My God is a God of profit. My God is a God of profitability; He is a God of what you have left. Why, over and over again in the Scriptures, do we see God dealing not just with profits and losses, assets and liabilities, but over and over again we see a God who thinks about profit. I won’t just give you enough oil to pay off your debts; I’ll give you enough oil that you can live off the rest. I won’t just take your two fish and five loaves of bread and feed the five thousand; I’ll give you such profits that your health baskets will be full and your only problem will be how to get this back home. I am not just a God that opens up the windows of heaven, but I’ll pour you out a blessing you don’t have room enough to receive. I am a God of profitability, and every time He ran into one of His servants that was not profitable, He cursed them for being an unprofitable servant.
I came to tell you this Sunday morning that God’s going to get something out of your agony; God’s going to get something out of your pain; God’s going to get something out of your loneliness; God’s going to get something out of your distress; God’s going to get something out of your despair; and God’s going to get something out of every tear that you shed in your life. God is going to reap something from your childhood, and God is going to bring something out of your pain, your fullness, your depression, and your confusion. For I reckon, I reckon, I reckon. So, I want to challenge you to do an audit on your life and judge nothing before it’s time.