I had a coach when I was in high school who was only about 8 years older than me. He was a great teacher in the classroom but also in sports. And one of the things that this 23 year old stressed as important was we young men having good character. I was 15 when I first came under his influence and I still remember how important he let us know that was. And later in life I discovered that the Bible says that our character is important to us as followers of this Jesus of the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Rome that we ought to rejoice when we run into problems and trials in our life. And the reason is that they help us to develop endurance. And that is important because endurance is a part of character development. And character makes our faith stronger. But the price of character development is not to focus on how we feel, but on how we think. And the Bible calls us to think and then act like Jesus did. In Philippians 2 Paul writes that Jesus gave up his divine privileges and instead came to earth as one of us and took the humble position of a slave. He humbled himself in obedience to God and
died a criminal’s death on a cross. Character is costly. Thinking critically and thinking godly is hard. But God uses all that to change us. So, remember that the hard times in your life are in fact opportunities for your faith to be tested and in turn to grow. So hard times are…well, they are hard! But in those times God has not abandoned you but instead is refining you and conforming you to the image of this Jesus, the Son of God. So many years ago, our coach knew that for us to be the best that we could be started not in competition with others, but with the development of our minds and hearts. Let God do that for you and the result of your journey on this planet will be that you will see God make you the best you, you could be here and now…and forever with him in eternity. Hard? You bet, or else everybody would be doing it! Worth it? Oh yeah! Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Romans 5:3-5 NLT We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. (4) And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. (5) And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Remember I'm praying for you,
PJ
died a criminal’s death on a cross. Character is costly. Thinking critically and thinking godly is hard. But God uses all that to change us. So, remember that the hard times in your life are in fact opportunities for your faith to be tested and in turn to grow. So hard times are…well, they are hard! But in those times God has not abandoned you but instead is refining you and conforming you to the image of this Jesus, the Son of God. So many years ago, our coach knew that for us to be the best that we could be started not in competition with others, but with the development of our minds and hearts. Let God do that for you and the result of your journey on this planet will be that you will see God make you the best you, you could be here and now…and forever with him in eternity. Hard? You bet, or else everybody would be doing it! Worth it? Oh yeah! Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Romans 5:3-5 NLT We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. (4) And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. (5) And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Remember I'm praying for you,
PJ