How could there be refining fires without our enduring some heat?
The hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting!
Daily hope is vital, since the ‘Winter Quarters’ of our lives are not immediately adjacent to our promised land either. An arduous trek still awaits, but hope spurs weary disciples on.
Joshua didn’t say choose you next year whom you will serve; he spoke of “this day,” while there is still daylight and before the darkness becomes more and more normal.
Faith in God includes Faith in God’s timing.
Most of our suffering comes from sin and stupidity; it is, nevertheless, very real, and growth can occur with real repentance. But the highest source of suffering appears to be reserved for the innocent who undergo divine tutorial training.
If the kingdom of God is not first, it doesn’t matter what’s second.
C. S. Lewis pointed out that some people are angry with God for His not existing, and others for His existing but for failing to do as mortals would have Him do. Instead of such childishness, we are urged to know God and to learn of His attributes.
The more seriously we work on our own imperfections, the less we are judgemental of the imperfections of others.
We cannot repent for someone else. But we can forgive someone else, refusing to hold hostage those whom the Lord seeks to set free!
Good homes are still the best source of good humans.
Anger should never be an overnight guest.
It is only by yielding to God that we can begin to realize His will for us. And if we truly trust God, why not yield to His loving omniscience? After all, He knows us and our possibilities much better than do we.
Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.
The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day also be the receptacle of joy.
Though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail.
When we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God’s timing, we really are suggesting that we know what’s best. Strange isn’t it-we who wear wrist watches seek to counsel Him who oversees cosmic clocks and calendars.
Real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine.
Do not let the future be held hostage by the past.
It is our job to lift others up, not to size them up.