A. W. Tozer wrote, “Strange as it may be, the holiest souls who have ever lived have earned the reputation for being pessimistic.” Have you ever considered that spiritual growth might require you to start being more pessimistic about some things?
Joseph was thankful that his brothers had sold him into Egyptian slavery. Such “useful” things are obviously harder to attribute to God and to give Him thanks for. But Paul said, “In everything, give thanks,” and I believe he meant just what he said.
Sometimes, the best way God can teach us that we need His help is by letting us do without it for a while. After that, we’re in a better position to be grateful for the help when it does come. And it surely will come, when God sees the time is right.
We should put away our predictions and go ahead and do the best we’re capable of doing at the moment. We must be guided by conscience and the knowledge that it always “does good to do good” — whether we can see how it’s going to happen or not.
Quit worrying and quit trying to figure out what is going to happen in the future. The future is God’s business, and it doesn’t matter very much to us. Our work is doing the simple daily duties that lie clearly before us, come what may.
If nothing else produces patience in our dealings with others, we at least ought to be moved by our Lord’s patience with us. Since He has put up with us for so long, how can we be so short-tempered and unkind to others?
Difficulty, properly dealt with, increases the satisfaction we feel when the hardship has been overcome. So for those bound for heaven, difficulty doesn’t do anything but guarantee that rest from their labors is going to be that much sweeter.
If it is honorable to suffer for a cause, it is even more so for a person. And when the person is none other than our Savior, no suffering is too great to be anything less than a privilege. We can be thankful we’re counted worthy of such an honor.
The hardness of our sojourn encourages us to repent of our sins. For most of us, repentance is not a one-time occurrence; it is a process. By a sequence of events, God is teaching us repentance, and the process can’t be rushed.
Paul spoke of the Thessalonians’ work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. When our work is based on our trust in God’s faithfulness and our labor grows out of a love that is pure and strong, our hope will produce an amazing steadfastness.
The church in Philippi had begun in unusual circumstances, and they had been a great encouragement to Paul. The salutation of his letter to them (Philippians 1:1) is a good ...