Walking Through Trials
Let's start by debunking a myth: Nowhere in Scripture does God promise us a perfect life, free from troubles. In fact, many, many times in the Bible, Christ-followers find themselves persecuted, under attack, or facing trouble of all kinds.
In a letter from James to first-century believers, James informs them about the various trials that they will experience in life:
"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."
James 1:12 NIV
When we see trials as a means of becoming more like Jesus, then we’ll be blessed by them.
Maybe you can think back to a difficult season of life. Looking back, you might be able to point out how God refined you coming out of it. God is often at work behind the scenes deepening our character and enlarging our capacity, even when we don't see it.
Maybe you're going through one of those difficult seasons right now. Take this passage to heart! You can persevere knowing there is a promised reward for us in heaven. While rewards on this side of heaven are not promised, looking towards our final destination with Jesus gives us hope to endure the trials in the present.
If you’re walking through a difficult season of life, spend some time meditating on the promises of God. He promises to never abandon you or leave you, but to walk alongside you through trials. And at the end of the trial, you’ll be more like Christ.
Take a moment to thank God for His faithfulness and love in your life.
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness ...