By Chris"
We were never promised that life in Christ would be easy. In Acts 14:22, Paul and Barnabas tell the disciples of Christ that “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” They delivered this message shortly after Paul had been stoned and left for dead!
Spurgeon writes in Morning and Evening that God’s people are predestined for trials. It’s an inescapable part of our life, but we must remember that trials develop our character:God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.”
Read the rest of the devotional at Christians Classics Ethereal Library.
What trials have you experienced? How has God shaped you through them?"
No comments:
Post a Comment