Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
We must not forget that as we study the life of the man they called Paul. We must also brace ourselves for some rather gruesome surprises. The first pen portrait of Paul (whom we first meet as Saul of Tarsus) is both brutal and bloody. If an artist were to render it with brush and oils, not one of us would want it hung framed in our living room.
Because of the fallout of our cynical society, you and I are being programmed to rush by words of grace and blessing and to hurry on to words that are negative. They bring us down.
When trouble comes we have two options. We can view it as an intrusion, an outrage, or we can see it as an opportunity to respond in specific obedience to God's will—that rugged virtue James calls "endurance."
I wish for you a full life, like Job’s, marked not by living happily ever after (an impossibility), but by being truly satisfied, fulfilled, challenged, useful, godly, balanced, and joyful.
It is both unfair and inaccurate to assume that most wealthy individuals have not earned their riches or did not receive them from the hand of God. Some of God's dearest saints are eminently wealthy. So? I say again—let it be. If you are one of them, you hardly need the reminder that you didn't create it yourself. It came because of His grace. Use it appropriately. Give generously. Walk in humility.
It might very well be that your willingness to forgive and move on is all that is necessary to prompt the Lord to let His justice roll down. So, what are you waiting for?
God's arrangement of things is not a frustrated plan. God is not sitting on the edge of heaven, biting His nails, wondering what He's going to do about our world. He knows exactly what He's going to do and when He's going to do it.
Focus on the timing. Humble yourself not after He exalts you, but humble yourself now. Don't wait. Pull back, stop the arguing, and rest in Him. It is remarkable how He will quiet your spirit and transport you to a realm of contentment you've never known before, even with most of the answers missing.
God's plans are beyond our understanding and too deep to explain. Perhaps God doesn't explain Himself because knowing and understanding His way may not help us all that much. Stop and ask yourself: Does knowing why really help? Is the pain removed by knowing the cause?
Easter and hope are synonymous. That special day never arrives without its refreshing reminder that there is life beyond this one. True life. Eternal life. Glorious life. Those who live on what we might call "the outskirts of hope" need a transfusion. Easter gives it.
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