It is often true that things appear to get worse before they get better. Frankly, it is hard to keep from getting impatient. But here is where faith comes in. The principal part of faith is its ability to bear a heavy burden and still keep going.
If we worship something other than God as He is, we are worshiping an idol, a creature that we have made. And nothing is more disastrous spiritually than to worship a creature (whether one of God’s or one of our own) rather than the Creator Himself.
Much of the happiness and joy that are available to us can only be ours if we know we’re making progress in godly character and conduct. When we give in to the forces of evil “inertia,” we fail to move ahead, and the result is that we stagnate.
If we’ve caught any glimpse of the joy that fellowship with God would bring to us, then no price will be too great to pay to learn that love. We’ll not even balk at the requirement of repentance. Our hearts and our minds will be open to Him.
We must want what is good with all of our hearts. Like our Lord who “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,” we must be moved primarily by joy and hope. The prospect of one day seeing God’s face must be the main part of our strength.
Just as surely as any work of art ever revealed the heart of the artist, God’s creative work tells us that He is a God of love. A world like the one we live in could not have been made by a God who did not take delight in beauty and joy.
Let us not trifle with our responsibilities, but let us also not forget the manifold goodnesses of God that have made us want to accept those responsibilities. When the final tally is made, our labor will matter little if it was not a labor of love.
Honesty about our yearnings and our guilt is not easy. But the good news is that it leads to an appreciation of grace in which God can save us. Hope can only be ours when we admit that our hearts will never be completely healed in this world.
The very worst disadvantage of the cluttered life is that being at peace and growing in our relationship with God become almost impossible. Perhaps there are a few who could manage such a juggling act, but not many of us can do so.
What if we find ourselves, as most of us do, already among the affluent? Then we need to be honest about the difficulties and dangers that face us, and we need to do whatever it takes to compensate for the disadvantage of our possessions.
God’s people “bear” His name. In a sense, God has put His reputation in the hands of those who are “a people for his name.” Knowing that the world is ...