Shawn Bolz says it’s important for Christians to develop a sense of perspective regarding the severity of their problems. In a video clip posted Friday by his ministry, Bolz used an example of working out a minor disagreement with his wife, Cherie, to illustrate this point.
“There’s times that Cherie and I have disappointed each other,” Bolz says. “I remember one time we were just all maxed out, all worked, and she was mad at me for something—which never happens—and she was super frustrated. She was trying to figure out how to come back from that frustration, and she made a list in her heart of all the things she loved about me the most and what I had done, and then … she realized, ‘I’m so in love with this man … that this thing is so small compared to normal problems.'”
He says if you never struggle with significant problems, then insignificant problems—whether in your marriage, career or spiritual life—can feel like impossible obstacles.
“This is like #WesternWorldProblems, not real problems,” Bolz says. “We sit down with people who have real marriage problems often. And I’m not minimizing our problems, saying it doesn’t exist. I’m just saying when you build perspective, there are level 10 problems and there’s level 1 problems. And when you don’t have a lot of level 10s—you have 1, 2 and 3s—your threes feel like level 10.”
Check out the full video teaching embedded here.