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• In Suffering I Rejoice...

  2008-09-28 10:50AM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
  

  
  3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
  
  6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Romans 5:3-7
  
  This past season of life for me has been one of the most trying of times. Through it all, I rejoice, because I know that God is developing endurance in me. You normally don't want to endure anything. The word endurance is usually correlated with suffering and trials. Yet, its only through suffering that we can develop character. I'm learning more and more that character doesn't come over night. It's built over time. I don't know why I'm facing the challenges I have been facing, but I do know one thing I need Jesus more than ever at this moment.
  
  My family has been going through trials. My closest of friends have been going through trials. My ministry has been going through trials. My personal life is being tried as I write this. In all of this, I cling to the above verse knowing that in the midst of problems and trials that God is developing within me endurance, this endurance produces character, and this character cements in my inner man a confident hope in Jesus Christ that can never be shaken by life circumstances.
  
  Who wants to suffer? Not me! But, if suffering comes I rejoice because I know God is getting His way in me. Everything in life that happens, good or bad, is for one purpose: that we may know Christ more (Phil 3:10)
  
  It's in the most trying of times, that I must make the most difficult of decisions. It is in the fiery furnace of trials that I learn to become a man. Because men are not born, they are made. How can a man become a man unless he is faced with challenges that he must overcome? How can a man rise higher if he is not first brought lower? How can a man be proven faithful unless he first has the opportunity to exercise faith? Is life fair? Certainly not. Jesus died without justice. But through His suffering and death injustice was overcome by His great love for us. In the face of unbearable suffering, trial and death on a cross, Jesus rose up to the challenge and made a decision that only a man could make. He faced fear with faith and became the ultimate God and Man, the Savior of the world. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2).
  
  Being a man of God has very little to do with public ministry or recognition. Ministry is easy, living life is a challenge. Preaching on a stage is easy, but preaching with your life is what counts. Being a man of God has everything to do with being faithful in the little things, being obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit with every action big or small, being a man means making the tough decisions you have to make to protect the life of others even when others don't agree. It is about being a man who is faithful to God, his family, and loving others with purity of heart. None of these things can be proven in a man without having to face life problems and trials. So I rejoice!
  
  With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. For it has been in these moments of suffering, that I have felt the closeness of the Holy Spirit more present with me than ever before. I need Him, want Him and desire Him because without Him all would be meaningless. But with Him, everything makes sense and life with all its unpredictability's finds purpose because my hope is in Him. He loves me. That's all that matters. Life is a beautiful struggle that brings us one step every day closer to Him. In this I rejoice! That I may know You more Jesus.