Day 22 of 40! J
Purpose #3: You
were created to become like Christ.
Dear friends,
don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something
strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you
partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy
of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. 1
Peter 4:12-13 (NLT)
3-5All praise
to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy!
God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard
times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going
through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was
there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the
Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a
full measure of that, too.
6-7When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for
your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and
encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face
forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that
you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we
know you're going to make it, no doubt about it. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (MSG)
Sometimes life
just throws a curveball your way.
You think to
yourself, wait… I don’t get it. God, this wasn’t supposed to happen this way!
But did He ever
say life was gonna be easy?
No.
Did he say he’d
never leave you or forsake you?
YES! Never ever
will he leave your side.
Sometimes it
may not feel like he’s there… but like I said last night, don’t base life on
feelings.
One time I was
going through something and God felt so entirely distant that I couldn’t see
how he was working things out for good AT all.
I was so
discouraged that I looked up at the sky and complained, “Even the stars aren’t
out!” (stars are my favourite things… the Bible says God just “made the stars
also”. As if something so magnificent were an afterthought to the sky. I like
to think he made them just to astound us.)
My best friend,
Annette, was there at the time – just being the beautiful, encouraging person
that she is. She leaned over and said, “The stars are still there… it just
takes more faith!”
It’s the same
way with God.
We can’t see
him… can’t even see him working a lot of times.
During the
hardest times in life we can’t even feel his presence.
But He promises
never to leave us.
Anything hard
that happens in life is a result of his love for us.
He doesn’t want
us to stay the same miserable people, so he keeps bringing us hard times to
work out all the sinful nature, to trust Him more, and to ultimately become
more like Jesus.
Like anything
else in life, we can’t do this on our own strength.
We need the
Holy Spirit living and vibrant inside of us to be able to get through these
trials.
The trials
aren’t meant to burn us and make us useless, but instead God intends to refine
us, like gold.
When gold is
refined in the fire, all the impurities float to the surface and are then able
to be taken out. This is the only way to achieve the result of pure gold. And
trials are the only way to achieve the pure image of Christ we are called to
carry.
Why would we
complain about trials as if something strange were happening to us?
All God wants
to do is purify us into the beautiful people He has created us to be.
So many times
we try to avoid hardships, but it is in that moment of desperation that we find
we have nowhere else to turn to except our Heavenly Father.
No matter what
you’re going through right now, remember – God has a reason for everything.
Building
character is part of the journey.
And we are
never alone.
Consider it a
sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You
know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its
true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its
work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:2-4 (MSG)
In closing… a
thought on trials and building character from a beautiful young woman: Ginny
Owens.
“It’s never the
trial that makes us stronger… it’s what we choose to do with that trial. If we
choose to lay that at the foot of the cross and say, ‘Lord, I give this to
you.’ And also if you choose to know that He has us exactly where we’re
supposed to be.”
- Ginny Owens.
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