The fire

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire. (Richard M. Nixon)

My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be. (James 1:2-4)

While none of us actually wants to embrace the 'furnace' of trials and troubles of all kinds, it is actually how we realize the greatest growth in our faith and inner character. Be that what it may be, we don't usually run right into the face of trials and get all up in their grill, so to speak. We actually might just want to turn tail and run when we see them coming - especially when they are coming so rapid fire that we just don't seem to have any breathing room in between them. God's plan isn't to leave us devastated by allowing these trials - though they be harder than we might want to endure, they ALWAYS bring something we might not have ever known possible!

Faith increases in the midst of trials. Somehow, we know that we need to turn to God, to seek his help, to listen closer to his voice. We dig in deeper in our prayer life, seek answers from scripture, and even spend more time with others who also believe. Why? We know we are toast without his help! Could we imagine a world without trials or troubles? Yes, but we'd all be selfish little brats, looking out for ourselves, and too caught up in all the 'stuff' around us to notice we had left God's side! Ease presents some very real challenges, just as trials present their own set of challenges! Neither state is without issue - but only one draws us to the bosom of Christ!

Faith is tested - not tempted. There is a difference between tests or trials and temptation. Temptation comes into play when our own desires and lusts get brought into play within our lives, luring us to give into something we know better than to do. Trials and tests carry an element of 'stretching us' beyond where we have become comfortable. They actually show us we have more 'capacity' for things God is teaching us, even when we think we are at 'full capacity' right now. In temptation there is very little patience, but in testing or trials, it is all about developing that deeper level of patience that actually results in a deeper faith.

We might not like the 'fire' of trials, but we will reap more than we imagined possible when we endure them with grace, hope, and trust. Just sayin!

We get there by going there

Dr. Seuss reminds us, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." So many times, we focus on the 'end' of things and forget all that happened in between the beginning and the end - the 'going through' part. We get through something, look back a bit, celebrate or mourn, depending on the occurrence, and then we commit to our memories something from that experience. It won't be the full details, but we will latch onto some part of it as the memory we will keep. If it was a happy occasion, we may not have wanted it to end. If it was just the opposite, we are probably grateful to have it over once and for all. Either way, it isn't the end that made the difference for us - it was the 'going through' that did.

If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. (I Peter 3:13-18)

Do you think you can stop what you are going through? You might be able to devise an escape, but in the end, you will likely face something quite similar again. We can celebrate the toughest of things all because we 'go through' them with Christ. We 'get through' with attentive hearts, not side-tracked minds. We celebrate the beginning, middle, and end because we kept Chris central in it all. We were vigilant, determined, and obedient. We continually allowed the cleansing of our hearts, ordering of our thoughts, and balancing of our emotions - and we got through. Christ already went through it all - came out the other side of that tomb - celebrated the victory. 

We know life will not always be easy, but we can always find something good in the worst of circumstances when we have made Christ our focus through it all. How do we keep Christ first when the times we are facing are less than 'celebratory'? It requires a very 'conscious' effort on our part to remove our focus from what we are 'going through' and to place it squarely on his having 'gone through' it all for us already. When the emotions want to drift into dread, doubt, or distrust - ADORE him. When the mind wants to constantly rehearse the difficulties - ADORE him. When the spirit grows weary and the body weakens with each new day - ADORE him. 

ADORE him - delight in him; celebrate his goodness; relish his grace. ADORE him - treasure his guidance, honor him by using the wisdom he brings, and revere his truth. ADORE him - center your thoughts on his love, open your arms to his embrace, and settle into his peace. The way we 'get through' is by 'going through' WITH him - worshiping (adoring) him each step of the way. It may not look like we are ever going to make it, but by trusting in his grace, we shall. Just sayin!