Trials in life are not something we tend to look forward to or desire.  What we desire most along life’s journey is a road that is freshly paved 4‑lane black top with GPS assists along the way and no speed bumps.  What we don’t want is more mountains and hills to climb.  Perhaps that’s because we’ve never really stopped to consider that trials are a condition of life established to teach us endurance, patience, perseverance, and faithfulness. 

         There is a parable of an old dog that fell into a farmer's well. After assessing the situation, the former sympathized with the dog but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth the trouble of saving.  Instead, he planned to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.

         When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old dog was hysterical period but as the former continues shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow after blow after blow.  “Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up!” he repeated to encourage himself.  So, Before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What seemed as though it would bury him actually benefited him — all because of the way he handled his adversity.

         If we face our problems and respond to them positively, refusing to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the adversities that come along to us to bury us usually have within them the potential to bless us!

         It’s the development of those characteristics of perseverance that enables us to remain strong throughout our journey.  Just as a child’s legs get stronger the more it tries to stand up, so does our spirit get stronger the more we rely on it and learn to persevere.

• As a mid-week exercise, write down some of the things you’ve persevered through along with your reasons to be thankful to God.

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving God, give me the strength and patience to endure life’s challenges. Help me to hold on to my faith and hold out until my change comes and You declare me “Not Guilty.”

         It’s difficult in this day and age — or perhaps any day and age — to go through life without being insulted, persecuted, lied on or lied about.  And yet while we might each face those types of negative comments, I wonder, of all the people that face them, how many people face them because of their relationship with Jesus Christ?  The way I understand it, Christ is the common denominator in this issue of persecution, especially for those who claim to be Christian.  There are certain lessons to be learned when being persecuted for being a follower of Jesus.  Perhaps it’s because it’s impossible to stand up for the underdog, to offer unconditional love to the unwanted, or to accept those who society deems unacceptable without facing “persecution” (verbally, physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually) from someone.  But the upside is that we can rejoice in our persecutions because they teach us perseverance.  Perseverance teaches us character, and character teaches us to never give up our hope.  It’s through our persecutions that our justification becomes real, and the grace of God becomes manifest in our lives in tangible ways.  And if the grace and mercy of God in our lives can become more tangible, we have a reason to rejoice because our justification is merged together with our similarity to Christ’s persecution and his seal on our justification.  Just as he was not guilty, God will accept our faith in Christ as a verdict of “Not Guilty” against us.  That’s enough reason to rejoice in our justification and be glad.

A line from a song says, “See, I’ve been picked out, to picked on — talked about out my friends mouth, I’ve been beat down … “ 

• How do think it feels to be insulted, talked about and lied on by people you considered your friends?
• Have you ever been persecuted because of your faith as a Christian?
• If so, what was that experience like for you?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious and merciful God, empower me to experience the blessing of persecutions. Let them be growing edges of my spiritual journey that I may become more like You and declared “Not Guilty.”

         We make such an effort to prove to ourselves and others that we are people of honesty, character, and trust.  We want to be considered as moral people who do all the right things at all the right times for all the right reasons.  And it’s in our efforts to be righteous that we find ourselves guilty by the writer T. S. Eliot’s line in his play, “Murder in the Cathedral”.  That one powerful line says, "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."  And how often have we justified ourselves for doing something morally good for no other reason than to get something we selfishly wanted that was driven by morally corrupt and manipulative thought.  Then come all the reasons we did what we did to get what we wanted to make our actions appear well intentioned.  And so, we lead ourselves to believe that by not violating all of the ethical laws of the universe, our actions were appropriate.  And so, it can be both the violation of the law and the motivations in front of and behind our actions that make us guilty.  And justifying ourselves only complicates the crime.  And so, God justifies us irrespective of our obedience to the law, because no one can be totally obedient.  Yet God, it is God’s grace justifies us by reconciliation through faith, making allowances for both those who do the right thing for the wrong reasons and those who might do the wrong thing for the right reasons.  How many times did Jesus ask the Pharisees, “Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or not?”  And while it might have been legally wrong, God’s grace would justify the person who set out to do good, even though it violated the law as “Not Guilty”.  We must fight the temptation to justify ourselves because we believe we are good people and accept God’s grace through faith to justify us.  God is the only one who can declare us not guilty.

• Is it possible for a person to justify themselves as “Not Guilty” for doing the wrong thing for the right reason?
• What would be the error in justifying yourself even if you did the wrong thing for the right reason?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Merciful God, forgive me for the times I seek to justify myself to alleviate my guilt. Teach me to lean on Your grace as a way to justify my actions that might be improperly motivated.