It should be a joy to yield to God’s purposes. So let’s hold our plans but hold them loosely. When we say, “Let’s do this,” and God says, “No, let’s do that,” then our love for Him will say, “Yes, I trust you enough to know that will be better.”
The Laodiceans were satisfied. Having what they wanted, the very satisfaction of those needs had blinded them. “You do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,” the Lord said to them. Would He say anything different to us?
Whatever it may be that provides an occasion for God’s people to rejoice and thank Him is a good thing — no matter what the sacrificial price of that benefit and no matter how painfully it may impinge upon us personally.
If we make mere pleasantness our priority in life, we won’t grow in godliness. That result can only come from the other alternative: the patient endurance of hardship. We can’t have the result without embracing the means that lead to that result.
We do not serve God in order to receive any particular blessing in this life; we serve Him because we want to go, when our journey is over, to the place that He has prepared for us — by any path through this world that may be necessary.
Jesus said some do not have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear.” They are simply too preoccupied with themselves to see and hear the truth about God. There is no such thing as a reminder so powerful that it reminds those who aren’t paying attention.
The devil can be resisted, and we surely need to do that more often, don’t we? When we’ve been discouraged by the apparent hopelessness of our situation, we need to stiffen our resolve and do what is right, if not out of hope then out of defiance.
The world stands under the judgment of God for its rebellion. Unrepentant, the world is doomed to destruction. When Christ returns, that doom will fall. The only ones who will not be touched by the devastation will be those who are delivered.
Grace looks forward. Yes, the way seems long and the obstacles seem fearful, but God will not begin a work in us and not finish it. Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed, and by His grace, we can make it the rest of the way.
When the things you cherish are taken away from you, you will grow in wisdom. You’ll learn more from losing things than you ever learned by gaining them. And what you’ll learn is that God is all you have to have, the one thing you can’t do without.
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