Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”
Our Bible verse for today: “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Tough times can make us stronger and better.”
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” Although that’s often said in a playful and teasing way to poke fun at a difficult situation and to lighten things up a bit, there’s also some truth to it. This is what James was writing about in James 1:2-4. Tough times can teach us and strengthen us and we can come out of those tough times stronger and better. This is true for individual Christians and for entire churches, and it’s also true for the Christian community at-large.
There’s been much attention paid recently to the seismic moral shift which has taken place in our country. There has been much discussion and concern about what this means for religious liberty. All indications are that as Bible-believing Christians who are committed to living by Biblical principles, we will be faced with increasing criticism, legal challenges, and various degrees of persecution.
While none of us want that, and we’re certainly not inviting it, we shouldn’t shrink from it either. In fact, in some ways, it will actually be good for us. I believe that for those who will be Acts 5:29 Christians – for those individuals, churches and denominations who will obey God rather than men – we will end up stronger and better as a result.
2000 years of Christian history proves this to be true. Historically the Christian church has always been at its best, it has always been strongest and most effective, when it has been faced with persecution. The early church in the book of Acts faced terrible opposition, and they ended up spreading the Gospel to the entire known world. Those we have come to call “The Pilgrims” faced great persecution for their faith in England, and it resulted in them establishing what became the greatest nation the world has ever known (The USA). Few Christians anywhere have ever faced as much government opposition, for as long, as the Christians in China. Yet there are now more Christians in the nation of China than in any other country on earth. In all those cases the opposition they faced actually made them stronger and better and more effective for the cause of Christ.
I encourage all of us to resolve to just lean into the tough times ahead; to face them with boldness and courage and confidence; to be faithful in the spirit of Acts 5:29; and to let the Lord refine us and shape us, grow us and strengthen us, through the purifying fires of trials and opposition. Tough times really can make us stronger and better.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 