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More Than Conquerors
All suffering challenges our faith, and when we endure to the end, we will be rewarded. This was not always apparent to me in those times of trouble which were not a form of persecution, but were common to both Christians and unbelievers alike. When we lose loved ones, have serious illnesses, economic hardships, and other such trials of life, it looks so senseless on the surface. I noticed that in such times we experience temptations, fears, and sometimes doubts. I have found some answers in the Bible which have been of comfort.
First, we are involved in spiritual warfare. We are more vulnerable to various temptations during trying circumstances, because Satan is trying to overthrow our faith. An example of this shows how Jesus was tempted in the wilderness while suffering from hunger and thirst. Satan tempted Him to use His miraculous power to make stone into bread. Jesus resisted the temptation using His knowledge of the Scriptures (Mt. 4: 1-11.)
Next, there is the reward of the crown of life for those who endure various trials (Js. 1: 2-4), 5:11). Job suffered losses of His possessions, children, health, and friends (job 1, 2, 42). Behind the scenes we know Satan is trying to get Job to blaspheme and give up serving God. Further comfort is found in knowing that God limits our trials so they are not more than we can bear by providing a way of escape (1 Cor. 10: 13).
Finally, when we endure physical suffering and overcome through faith, we are standing up for the Lord against sin just the same as when we are persecuted by others for our faith and we endure. All steadfastness of faith glorifies God and is a powerful example to the world. We can let it help us to grow stronger as we defeat the influence of evil and become more than conquerors through Christ (Rom. 8: 37-39).
Lisa Schaeffer Michigan
(Reprinted from Contents of the Weaker Vessel, September, 1987 - Vol. 1, No. 7)
In the World, But Not of the World (posted 3/27/06) When we visited the Amish country up in Pennsylvania, I enjoyed the peaceful countryside and the good looking animals. They use their animals very differently from the way the rest of Americans use them. The horses pull their small carriages —all can hear them when the young men go courting, even quite late into the evening. They go clop, clop on the hard roads. Their horses also pull their plows and their manure spreaders. Their way of life is "low key" compared to ours! They grow all their vegetables and fruits. They raise their own grain. They raise food for their animals. They make quilts and all their clothes. They use neither buttons nor zippers on their clothes. They make dolls for the little girls but give the dolls no face! I thought about how they keep themselves from so much of the modern world that interferes with a closer walk with God. They all dress alike, so no one has to decide in the morning what to wear! When a young man marries, they just add on more rooms to the sprawling house and the newly married just move in; or when old folks need some help with daily chores, they add on still more rooms to the sprawling house. They keep to their own little world except for business. I thought about how I could accomplish making my world have less temptation, and less evil people around. I thought that getting away up in the mountains would be good, so there would be less sin with which I would have to deal. Go back to nature! But we take all kinds of sin along wherever we go! "...not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of this world" (1 Cor. 5:9, 10). We are not to absent ourselves from the world. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (Jn. 17:15, 16, 18). We are to spread the good news —the gospel of Christ! "...This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations..." (Mt. 24:14) and "...how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" [teacher] (Rom. 10:14) We are to teach not only our children, but also those we see each day. We are to avoid the evil that is all around us by obeying the commands Christ has given us. If we spend our time doing, we will avoid the evil. "Do not love the world or the things in the world..." (1 Jn. 2:15). "Pure and undefiled religion...is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (Jas. 1:27). "...In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33). We are promised that there is a way of escape from temptation, if we will but look for it "...The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations..." (2 Pet. 2:9). "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13). No sacrifice we could make compares with Jesus' sacrifice for us! And any sacrifice we make is just our duty! Actually, no sacrifice we could make is too great! "...Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1). What sacrifice have you made for the Lord this past week? Was it really a sacrifice or just an imposition? Can you find something to do this week that is really a sacrifice? When we put God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom first in our lives, it is easier to live in this world. That straight and narrow walk with God is for our own good. God's ways are the best for us. "But seek first the kingdom of. God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Mt. 6:33). What things? All our necessities will be there for us. Years ago, a Christian lady could only afford one pair of shoes; for her boys had to have expensive shoes every two months. One Saturday night she noticed her shoes were splitting. She wore them on Sunday to worship, as they were, asking the Lord what should she do. On Monday she attended a meeting where a lady tapped her on the shoulder and asked her what size shoe she wore. It was the same size of her daughter-in-law that had just flown back home, leaving eight pairs of shoes for her to give away! The lady told me she was so overwhelmed with the goodness of God that she only took two pairs, leaving the others for someone else to enjoy. I've wondered who else was blessed that week. Jesus is to be our example in everything we do. He is the light of the world and we are to walk in that light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. That was the true Light which gives light to even- man who comes into the world" (Jn. 1:4, 9). Matthew 5:14 says we are the light of the world; so, as the children sing they will spread their light all around the neighborhood, we should spread our light also. "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light....! have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness" (Jn. 12:36, 46). Remember, just be in the world; not of the world, every day!? 1 Barbara Moeller (Reprinted from Contents of the Weaker Vessel, April, 1998 - Vol. 12, No. 4)
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