"After that ye have suffered
awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
1 Peter 5:10
1 Peter 5:10
You
have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colors,
and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is
not. The fair colors give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer
brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of
transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide?
The
graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory
beauty, but, on the contrary, must be established, settled, abiding. Seek, O
believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your
character not be writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May
your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be build
of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay,
and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your
convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life
be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms
of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of
being "established in the faith" is gained.
The
apostle's words point us to suffering
as the means employed—"After
that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no use to hope that we
shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarling on the
root of the oak tree, and those strange twisting of the branches, all tell of
the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the
depth into which the roots have forced their way.
So
the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of
life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort,
believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to
you.
God
bless,
David
L. Wynn
Pauline
B. Grant CME Church
“This
is the Potter’s House”
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