Many today are worried sick about terrorism, but in reality we are our own worse enemy! Man’s biggest problem is his obsession with self. We see it vividly in little children and we expect it, but sadly it stays with most people throughtout life. Even those who contemplate becoming Christians usually do so with the wrong motive. They want to know “Will it help me?”, “Will it solve my problems?”, “Will it meet my needs?” Certainly every Christian would testify that Christianity does help us, but if that is the only factor a person considers he will never become the person God wants him to be.

The famous missionary to inland China, Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) understood this. He said,”Are we not all too apt to seek Him rather because of our need than for His joy and pleasure? This should not be. We do not admire selfish children who only think of what they can get from their parents and are unmindful of the pleasure that they may give or the service that they may render. But are not we in danger of forgetting that pleasing God means giving Him pleasure?”

Sadly, personal pleasure has become more important to us than pleasing God. We break our necks trying to make ourselves happy, and we believe we deserve it, but we keep coming up short. As Eric Hoffer (1902-1983) wrote:”The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.” He was right.

A.W. Tozer(1897-1963) said, “The doctrine of man’s inalienable right to happiness is anti-God and anti-Christ, and its wide acceptance by society tells us a lot about that same society.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.said,”The end of life is not to be happy nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.”

Martyn Lloyd Jones wrote:”They alone are truly happy who are seeking to be righteous. Put happiness in the place of righteousness and you will never get it.” He was right–there is no true happiness without holiness. Solomon tried wisdom, wine, works, wealth, and women in his search for satisfaction, but he concluded that it was all vanity. He was so disappointed that he declared he hated life.

The Bible clearly teaches that our main duty is to glorify God. Living for any other purpose spells failure. Glorifying God should be the supreme passion of our heart. It should be our all consuming interest, the thing that motivates and drives us. Get that right and you will never lack for genuine joy.Think about it!

I just happened to run across an article on the internet that was written by a friend of mine many years ago, a friend who has been with the Lord for more than a quarter of a century. Even after all these years he is still ministering to people by way of what he left. That got me to thinking–as I’ve often said, “You are going to die and they will bury your body, but your influence will live on and on.” We need to think about that more often and we need to act on the reality of it. Many years after you are dead and gone others will be affected by the life you lived. [Read more…]

I just read the following article by Dr. Paul Chappell and wanted to share it:

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”

 

1 Peter 4:12

 

 

Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, He puts him through the fire.

 

Everyone faces times of adversity. Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prisons. Most of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from jail. Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England. Semi-paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease. During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes at a time. His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, yet he contrived to write twenty magnificent volumes of history.

 

Even the most famous of people who seemed to have an easy life, secretly struggled with adversity and suffering. Suffering is not reserved for a certain type of people. We all face adversity at some point in our lives. 

 

Peter writes, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (1 Peter 4:12). Peter tells us that adversity is to be expected in the life of a Christian. Peter was teaching the early Christians that if they intended to live for God and follow the commands of the Bible, they could expect adversity to come their way.

 

We live in a society that thrives on vacations, trips to amusement parks, and times of fun. We want things to go smoothly and get all the fun we can out of life. But the reality is that sometimes adversity will come and it is to be expected.

 

Notice the phrase “think it not strange” in verse twelve. The word strange means “to surprise or astonish by the strangeness or novelty of a thing.” It is as if Peter is saying, “Don’t get caught off-guard by the trials that will come your way. Know that you will face ridicule, challenges, and difficulties as a Christian.”

 

Notice also the phrase “concerning the fiery trial.” The fiery trial reminds us of the refiner’s fire. The refiner is God, and He brings into our lives the fire that will not burn us, but that will bring out the impurities in our lives. Just as the refiner puts the gold ore in the fire to separate the pure gold from the ore, so God brings adversity to teach us to trust Him and to mature us as His children.

 

Some Christians fail to see God’s purpose in the fire of adversity and stray from God during this time. They have tried to live for God in their own strength and have desired to follow Him, but the minute a trial came, they turned from God. They didn’t expect hardships, so they stray from God’s work in their lives.

 

Are you in the refiner’s fire? Is God seeking to refine you through adversity? Friend, don’t let trials separate you from God. God has a purpose for that trial in your life! Even when you don’t understand why or when you can’t see God’s plan, trust that He, as your Heavenly Father, knows what’s best for you and only wants to help you. Spend time with Him now and let Him have His way. Endure the fire, for in the end you will come forth as gold.—THINK ABOUT IT!