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.
Despair doesn’t have to lead to defeat. If we choose, we can stay the course. Indeed, there is no finer courage than that of the soldier who sees no hope of getting off the battlefield alive but fights on because the cause is just.
Paul urged Timothy to preach the word “in season and out of season.” The same goes for discipleship in general. We need to be faithful all of the time. After all, if the Lord can count on us only when His work is easy, what kind of service is that?
Who among us has not passed through something like Job’s darkness, a time when God is silent and not even one other person is willing to say anything but a discouraging word? The dead of the night is a hard time to endure.
A difficulty that is a problem to one person, another person thinks of as just an annoyance. It depends on what else you’re dealing with. That ache in your leg won’t seem like much of a problem if a day comes when you don’t have any legs at all.
The Christian gets the most out of this life that can be gotten. And when the goodness of this temporal world has been experienced and used to the Father’s glory, the Father Himself waits for us in eternity with His arms open wide.
The path of least resistance is what makes rivers crooked, and it makes men and women crooked too. The easy path never goes anywhere but downward, and spiritually, that is not the direction we want to go. Worthwhile destinations take extra effort.
Life isn’t always be easy. When we encounter serious obstacles on our way to heaven, we shouldn’t be surprised. This happens to be a hard world, and godly people aren’t going to get through it painlessly. Jesus certainly didn’t.
Our sorrow for past sins must be godly sorrow rather than the sorrow of the world. And a little defiance of the devil will help us. Our adversary wants us to be consumed and destroyed by our painful memories. He must not be allowed to get his way.
Confessing Christ goes beyond saying the words “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” Truly believing it, that truth must be confessed in our deeds as well as ...