And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

When you want to get in shape, it’s actually through the process of tearing your muscles down that you build them up. The first day of your workout isn’t so hard. But the next day, you’re in pain. Everything hurts. The next time, you feel weak, but you work out anyway. A couple of days later, you’re still weak and sore, but you’re also a little stronger. You increase the weights a bit, then you do a little more. Pretty soon, you notice that you’re getting stronger. It is through the breakingdown process that the building up comes.

In the same way, we need to build up our spiritual muscles. God allows us to go through difficulties. He increases the weights on us. Pretty soon, we are benching a whole lot more than we ever thought possible. We’re learning more than we ever thought we would learn. We’re doing more than we ever thought we would do. Iron is entering our souls, and we are developing that heroic endurance, perseverance, and strength that only comes through difficulty.

The Bible tells us, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4). In the original language, the word used here for “patience” means “perseverance,” “endurance,” “steadfastness,” or simply “staying power.”

If you are going through a time of testing and trial, realize that God has a purpose in it. Most likely, He is preparing you and training you today for what He will do in your life tomorrow.

 “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:3

Contrary to what some might believe, the Bible doesn’t teach that if you are a Christian, you will never stumble, fail, or fall short. But it does teach that if you are a true believer and have had a lapse or a stumble, you will always get up and move forward. That is one strong way to truly determine whether someone is a real believer.  Although Abraham was a friend of God, which Scripture specifically mentions three times, it is also clear that he had his lapses of faith. Yet the Bible says that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Does this mean that Abraham was declared righteous because of the good things he did? Did God justify Abraham because he lived such a holy, pure, and flawless life? Hardly. Any honest look at the life of Abraham would clearly show that he was a flawed man. Having said that, it is also important to point out that although Abraham deviated occasionally from the straight and narrow, he always came back.

If someone says he or she is a Christian but falls away and never returns to the faith, then he or she was not a believer. As 1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

True believers will be miserable in their sin and will eventually beat a quick path back to the cross of Calvary.

Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”   Matthew 16:24

OH, how I wish the words of this passage in Psalm 71 described me. As a child, I accepted as fact that Jesus died on a cross and was raised back to life. Although I thought I was a ChristianA, following Jesus was not the focus of my life. I was. My hopes, prayers, and thoughts generally revolved around me and my needs. My confidence was in myself.  Years later, I came to understand that being a Christian means submitting myself to Christ Jesus as my Lord, following him, and submitting to his plans for me. It means resting in the love and the peace he gives. It means so much more than this and so much more than I understood as a child.  Whether we grew up loving Christ Jesus and relying on him every day or rarely thinking of him, we can’t change the past. Tomorrow is not here, but we have this moment. Jesus said, “Follow me.” That we can do. Right now. This moment. 

Lord Jesus, we submit our desires, our plans, our lives to you. Help us, Lord, to follow you. Amen.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said.   Matthew 4:19

FOR Peter, Andrew, James, and John the call was clear. Jesus invited them to leave what they were doing to follow him. And they did! Later Jesus set them to work, saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Luke 10:2).  That was then; but what about today? I want to follow Jesus, but he’s not walking down the busy streets of my town. Or is he? While those early disciples could follow in Jesus’ earthly footsteps, we have the Holy Spirit who helps us to know Christ’s voice. As individuals, we are called to serve God in many different places. One may follow Jesus to a foreign land; another may follow him into a schoolroom. Some may follow him to the business world, while others may serve in public office or as homemakers, taxi drivers, or police officers.

The field that Jesus talked about is all around us. Not only is it across the ocean; it is in the house next door, the desk across from ours at work, the playground where our children play. In these places we follow Jesus, sharing his love so that other people can respond to his voice and follow him, too. 

Lord Jesus, teach us to walk with you today. Make us willing to go wherever you lead us. Amen.

While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him.   Luke 22:47

Betrayal started in the Garden of Eden, but it didn’t end there. One of the most famous names of betrayal comes from later in the Bible—Judas. He followed Jesus for three years as a disciple before handing Him over to be crucified. It was the ultimate betrayal in Jesus’ life, and perhaps in the history of the world.  As I was talking to a very prominent leader one evening when the subject of betrayal came up, he looked at me and said, “You know what I’ve discovered, Bruce? There’s always a Judas at your table. And he is close enough to kiss your cheek.”  I thought that was powerful. Betrayal comes from those closest to us. But regardless of who pushed you into the pit, it does not have to be a place where you break down. The pit can become a place where you break out to become who God has designed you to be.

Dear Lord, Thank You for Your discernment and guidance in life, and for opening my eyes to the intentions of those closest to me. Please dissolve any plans someone may have to betray me. And if their plans do succeed, please use the experience to help me break out of the pit so that I can become the person You designed me to be. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

When I look back on my life at the things God has allowed me to do and the opportunities He has opened up, I can see the wisdom of His perfect timing.  Our tendency is to rush things. But just because something has never;’ happened in your life today doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow. And just because it doesn’t happen tomorrow doesn’t mean it won’t happen a month or a year from now. Maybe one phase of your life is ending and another is beginning. Maybe everything that has happened to you up to this point in your life has been preparation for what is still ahead.

Moses didn’t get going until he was eighty. Then there was Caleb, another Israelite who left Egypt in the Exodus. Along with Joshua, Caleb came back full of optimism and belief when they were sent to spy out the Promised Land. But when the Israelites believed the pessimistic report of the ten other spies, God was so displeased that He refused to allow them to enter the land.

Years later, when Joshua led a new generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, Caleb was among them. And at eighty years old, he said to Joshua, “I’m asking you to give me the hill country that the LORD promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the Anakites living there in great, walled cities. But if the LORD is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the LORD said” (Joshua 14:12, NLT). Joshua gave him his little segment of land as was promised, and Caleb drove out all of its inhabitants. Caleb believed God’s promises, and God was faithful. We need to do the same.

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:21-22)

Though God’s love toward us is undeserved, unconditional, and even unsought, it is still possible for us to fall out of harmony with Him. To keep ourselves in the love of God, as Jude 21 urges us, means to keep ourselves in a place where God can actively show His love toward us.  Take the prodigal son, for example. He rebelled against his father, went to a distant land, and did things he shouldn’t have done. Was he still his father’s son? Of course he was. Was he in a place where his father could actively show his love to him? No, he was not.

Though this loving father missed his son, longed after his son, and grieved over the young man’s rebellion, the prodigal was in a far country. He had removed himself from his father’s love, blessing, and protection. We, too, can do the same thing. We can still be children of God, but if we are out of fellowship with Him and His people, pursuing a path that we know violates His Word and breaks His heart, then we are not in a place where God can actively demonstrate His love toward us. So we must keep ourselves in a place where God can do that.

Keep yourself from all that is unlike God. Keep yourself from any influence that would violate His love and bring sorrow to His heart. Enjoy His richest blessings by making yourself “blessable.”

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle.”  Matthew 11:29

AT a county fair I saw an amazing pair of oxen and their young handler at work. This young man had reared the oxen from calves and spent countless hours training them. I sensed a special bond between the handler and his team.

Most teams of oxen are handled by two assistants because the animals become so excited that they start pulling even before they are hitched to the weight. This young handler, however, worked alone. The oxen waited patiently to hear his command; when it came, they made a terrific pull. “Look at that,” exclaimed the announcer. “He doesn’t have to drive them! He simply asks them to pull!” While other handlers sometimes used whips and harsh words, it took only a few gentle words from this young man for the animals to pull for him.  Christ is like that handler. Seeing the oxen yoked together, I understood more completely what Jesus meant when he said his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Christ is patient with us. He knows that we are capable of much good. Because Christ’s voice is gentle, we need not be afraid. When he calls, we can respond out of love, allowing him to guide us. Because Jesus cares for us, our burden is light. 

O Lord, thank you for making our burdens light and leading us gently. Amen.

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” (Matthew 24:6-7)

From the beginning of time, humanity has searched for peace. We have joined peace movements, marched for peace, given prizes for peace, even gone to war for peace. And when we hear that people have been arrested for disturbing the peace, we wonder where they actually found any to disturb! Some people tell us via their bumper stickers to “Visualize world peace.” Then they cut us off on the freeway.

Displayed above the doors of the United Nations are the words of Isaiah 2:4: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” We are a people who want peace. But we need to know this: neither the United Nations nor politicians nor people who visualize it will bring about the long-awaited peace on Earth that humankind so desperately longs for. The peace that we long for will only happen when the Creator Himself returns, repossesses what is rightfully His, and hangs a sign over this war-weary planet that says, “Under New Management.”

It would be nice to think that with all of our sophistication and technology, we could somehow bring about global peace. But according to Jesus, in the last days we “will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass….” (Matthew 24:6). Tragically, war will be a part of the future of humanity until Christ Himself comes and establishes His kingdom.

Until that day…until the Prince of Peace returns to take charge of a troubled world, we can still find peace of heart and mind, peace that surpasses all understanding, as we rest in Him.

I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  Jeremiah 29:11

I wish I could change parts of my past. Some acts I would not do again. Others that were left undone, I would do. However, time moves forward without mercy. The stories of our lives offer no pauses and no rewinds. Each scene sets the stage for the next.  If we knew only the scene in Abraham’s life recounted in the Genesis reading above, we might think this was a man with nothing in his life he would edit. But the Abraham we see in this passage is a person who had been shaped by adversity, doubts, and even failures, as well as great acts of faith. Chapters 12-22 in the book of Genesis make this clear. Everything in Abraham’s past brought him to Chapter 22’s account of faithfulness and blessing. He lived, as we all do, in the unrepeatable present and trusted God who alone owns the future. Thus Abraham becomes for us a living example that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).  Each of us is moving toward many possible futures. All of these possibilities have one thing in common for people of Abraham’s faith: God who awaits us in the future encompasses all of them. God goes before us just as before Abraham. 

God, help us to live in the present in ways that will bring us where you want us to be in the future. Amen.