I was blessed to hear Bro. Dalton Walker, missionary to New Zealand, preach recently. Their nation has officially been deemed a secular nation. So, you can imagine it's pretty difficult to reach people with the gospel of Christ. He mentioned some of the hard times they have gone through...from going into hiding to nailing their kids into their bedrooms at night so the bandits wouldn't get them. Can you imagine? We would dread going through something like that, maybe even think we did something to bring it on. Bro. Walker thought that way too for a while, but then realized suffering was never considered wrong in the Bible...in fact, it was counted joy! As Christians, when we go through a trial we are then able to model to the world how one should handle the situation. And we prove His grace is always sufficient! Besides, when did we as Christians start believing we deserve it better than our Lord had it when He was on earth? Now personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with God greatly blessing us either (Ex: Solomon), but I think we need to keep our attitudes in check either way.......and "count it ALL joy"! :) Of course, it's easier said than done....and that's why we have to rely on Jesus. There's no way I can be happy about suffering! It's just something I really don't look forward to. But I know through God's help I can make it through the valleys...and even be happy about it.
Something else he mentioned was "don't be conformed to this world". We here it all the time....but what is the "world" exactly? Listing to rock music, wearing the wrong type of clothes, clubbing, going to the theater, driving a car....we all have our own definitions, but what is it really? Basically it is one word....ME. The world is focused on pleasing self and they'll try to drag us in too. The Bible however, calls us to be selfless and a servant to Christ. The closer we are to Jesus, the further away we'll be from the "world".
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