I had to share this devotional from Chuck Swindoll with you all.
http://www.insight.org/library/insight-for-today/nothing-new.html
This is something that God has been teaching me through my recent circumstances. The Word of God never says that our quality of life will be better if we give our lives to God. Sometimes, as Job, and as Paul, and as John Bunyan, referenced in this article, things don't go better. If you think about Hebrews 11, beginning in v 32, the scriptures talk about all the faithful, and starts out with Gideon, and Barack, and a bunch of others that God moved through mightily. The in v36, the tone changes. To quote: "and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground."
Contrary to popular teaching, things do not always "go better with Jesus," to play on the old Coca Cola commercial. Our circumstances may be terrible. However, God knows, He is allowing it, and He is teaching things to us through it. To quote, time would fail if I spoke about Daniel (thrown into a den of lions), Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (thrown into a fiery furnace), Job (lost his family, his property, and his living all in about 5 minutes and then lost his health), Paul (was stoned and left for dead and later beheaded for Christ), Peter (crucified upside down), and Jesus Himself (gave up being equal with God and was crucified for the sins of us all), who suffered and persevered to a better reward. God is good, even when our condition is not.
I thought you would all find that as encouraging as I do.
---
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)
http://www.insight.org/library/insight-for-today/nothing-new.html
This is something that God has been teaching me through my recent circumstances. The Word of God never says that our quality of life will be better if we give our lives to God. Sometimes, as Job, and as Paul, and as John Bunyan, referenced in this article, things don't go better. If you think about Hebrews 11, beginning in v 32, the scriptures talk about all the faithful, and starts out with Gideon, and Barack, and a bunch of others that God moved through mightily. The in v36, the tone changes. To quote: "and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground."
Contrary to popular teaching, things do not always "go better with Jesus," to play on the old Coca Cola commercial. Our circumstances may be terrible. However, God knows, He is allowing it, and He is teaching things to us through it. To quote, time would fail if I spoke about Daniel (thrown into a den of lions), Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (thrown into a fiery furnace), Job (lost his family, his property, and his living all in about 5 minutes and then lost his health), Paul (was stoned and left for dead and later beheaded for Christ), Peter (crucified upside down), and Jesus Himself (gave up being equal with God and was crucified for the sins of us all), who suffered and persevered to a better reward. God is good, even when our condition is not.
I thought you would all find that as encouraging as I do.
---
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)
No comments:
Post a Comment