Yesterday, I preached at a congregation that is currently going through a preacher search.

This congregation used to be comprised of several hundred members; now, for a host of reasons, they are less than a hundred.

As I spoke to several of the members, they were openly apologetic, concerned, and anxious about the state of things and the challenges facing them.

Then I met an older man with a broad smile who had a different view.

“It’s an opportunity,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to rededicate ourselves to our mission, to step up and serve, to strengthen our sense of community, to rely even more on God’s grace, and to prepare ourselves for a new leader.”

Wow!

This man was not blind to the challenges facing this congregation. He knew the reality and had the same concerns of the other members, but…

He had a different mindset.

As one preacher and author once wrote, “What’s the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty and every difficulty has an opportunity.”

Or as the apostle Paul put in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that his all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Instead of being filled with fear about the future, this older man chose to be guided by his faith in the all-surpassing power of God. Those “eyes of faith” empower him to see the opportunity within the difficulty the congregation is facing.

And he is helping others focus more on the opportunity than the challenge.

What’s the opportunity within the difficulty you are facing?