Not Without Pain

Acts 7:^56-58 “And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him…”

Today’s anchor scripture is about Stephen (please read Acts 6-7). Do you know that fourteen million people a year die simply because they are Christians? And your pain is that your car broke down on the road and you are so upset that you have decided to stop going to church. You say, ‘Pastor, if I am serving a God of Miracles, how come I do not have a brand-new car?’ The things we have turned this thing into. It is a big problem! If you understand what it is to follow God, you will realize that the things we complain about are non-issues. Imagine, when we get to heaven, someone like Stephen stands up to talk about what he endured for Jesus. Others talk about how they were flogged, how their lives were torn apart because of their faith in Christ.

Then someone like Paul talks about the shipwrecks he endured. When he was stoned, beaten, and left for dead. And then a Christian from our time gets up and says, ‘The other day, as I was driving, my car broke down, and I said, where is my God?’ Can you even imagine that? The things we worry about are complete non-essentials. Or someone says, ‘I waited and waited for my promotion and finally, I got the victory! My faith was strong!’ Really? But if you understand that faith does not spare you or exempt you from pain, your Christianity will be sound, solid, and grounded. Your faith in God will be rooted. It will not be about expecting ‘12345’ because you have done ‘ABCD’. Yes, you should get ‘12345’ promises of God. However, your faith should be in the Person of God NOT in the promises of God. Your faith should be in Christ, not in what Christ has said you will gain on earth.

This leads us to the second thing, Some Of God’s Promises Will Be Fulfilled In Eternity! Please read Hebrews 11:35–Hebrews 12:4 again. God said these people were too good for this earth. Yet, some of God’s promises for them were not fulfilled on earth. Our own judgment of failure or success is very different from God’s. God promised it, they believed, yet God decided they will not get it until eternity. He is God! How do we even put this in the box of religion today which says, ‘If God has said it and you claim it, you will have it’. Yes, you will definitely have it because God is not a liar. However, for some, they will have it in eternity, and we see that in scripture. When we disabuse our minds of material things and understand that our faith is in the incorruptible Word of God, we start to have peace with the outcomes of many things.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for every time I have magnified discomfort above Your faithfulness in my life. I am grateful for Your faithfulness, in Jesus Name. Amen!