| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 (CSB) Our thought for today: “God loves you enough to let you struggle” Struggle produces growth. Fighting through times of trials makes us stronger and better. Have you ever been to a weightlifting gym and seen athletes struggling, sweating, and groaning to lift huge weights? The struggle of lifting the weight produces muscle growth. They become bigger, stronger, and better as a result of pushing through and overcoming the resistance. The same is true in our lives, especially in our spiritual lives. Have you ever wondered why it is if God loves you so much that He sits back and allows you to struggle? This is why. The struggle produces growth. With the sustained effort of persevering and pushing through a tough situation, we learn important life-lessons, our character is formed, and our faith is strengthened. God allowing us to fight through situations is similar to the experience of raising a child. As the parent you need to teach the child how to do things, but then you need to let them have the experience of successfully doing those things on their own. You stand back and observe as the child fiddles with it, struggles, perseveres, figures it out, and then eventually succeeds. You might offer some words of guidance and encouragement, but if you continually intervene and do the thing for the child, he or she will never learn how to do it themselves and they will never grow strong and competent in that area of life. God loves us too much to allow us to be weak and incapable when it comes to dealing with life. Instead, He lets us deal with it, figure it out, push through it, and come out of it stronger and better. He will coach us and encourage us along the way; occasionally He might lend a little helping hand; but mostly He wants us to achieve it on our own because that’s how we will learn to handle life well. If you’re going through a tough time right now remember that God is there, He is observing, and He will intervene if necessary. But mostly He wants you to stick with it, push through it, learn from it, and come out of it better and stronger. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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