Life is full of joy, but it includes pain and consequences, too. Remember that you are not yet in Heaven where all is perfect; rather, you are living in a broken world where trials and disappointment abound. Therefore, it is important that you understand that in this life, you are not destined for happiness or health but for holiness. Accept the consequences as they come without any complaints. Don’t wallow in self-pity. Instead, look to God to help you endure the pain and consequences of life while in this temporary, less-than-perfect world. Let God separate you from every affection and desire not grounded in him and his glory. After you have endured a few trials while trusting in the Lord, trials will trouble you less and less. You will have realized that God is more than enough.
How do you keep on going along the path of obedience to Christ, you might ask; how do you keep going month after month for years or decades when there are countless disappointments, obstacles, betrayals, and failures, even grief, in your journey? If you put your hope in the sovereign grace and power of God and not in your own strength, or in the approval of others, or in fleeting pleasures, or the praise of mere men, you will endure anything as your faith remains steadfast in Christ. He will not require anything of you for which he does not provide the necessary wisdom, strength, and guidance for your eventual victory. Because he is faithful, you must be faithful; you must endure hardship and keep your heart and mind open to his leading.
It is a painful and difficult lesson, but you must learn to take for good whatever God sends in your direction, however bitter to the taste and painful to the heart and bones it may be. He is trying to teach you something or is using you to teach something to someone else (it is a great honor to be used in such a way). Both are his praiseworthy prerogatives; submit to either objective. You know that all around you there are signs of evil and subversions of the truth. You must stand firm and look beyond these things to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the face of long-suffering or an experience of evil perpetrated against you, stick to your belief, a belief anchored not on the philosophy or opinions of man, but on the promises of God and his offer of salvation and delivery through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The promises of God will help you to endure whatever may come.
Please remember this — in stubbornness, you refuse the Lord, but in submissiveness, you trust in him who is merciful and just. Do not love the world and its fickle promises and make your guilt and condemnation greater. But turn away from the world and its unholy allure and murmurs that your life is unfair and go to Christ with a broken and remorseful spirit, and you will be gladly received and restored.
Please be assured that God is not unjust; he will not forget your good deeds and the love you show him as you help your neighbors to endure as well. Continue in your enduring love of the Lord and service to your neighbors, demonstrating for others who suffer that they, too, may lay hold of the full assurance of hope found in Christ. I pray that your trials be few in number, that you endure them well, and you be reassured knowing a heavenly home without disappointments is your reward for what you may endure today. Amen.
