10TH NOVEMBER
2 Corinthians 6:4-10
“But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honour and dishonour, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”
Endure whatever it takes to stay true to God and the gospel!
From within the pages of the Bible and all the way down through history there have been men and women of God who have endured all things in order to stay true to God and the message of the gospel. God has used these people in powerful ways to see his plan of salvation reach the ends of the earth and to us today.
Take a moment to think about the people in your life whom God used to help you journey towards faith in Christ. Consider their lives. Have their lives been free from hardship and tragedy? How did they respond to life’s circumstances?
When we face hardship and tragedy we can be encouraged by the words of the Apostle Paul, “…as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything”. In his circumstantial hardship and apparent tragedy, Paul endured and in so doing made many rich in the kingdom of God and possessed everything he desired for life.
MAKE IT PERSONAL:
In the hardship and tragedy you are facing right now, what is your testimony to those around you?