Life
has a way of tossing bricks in our pathway... speed bumps on the road to
eternity with our Lord. Now we know from God’s word that adversity has a
purpose, for every brick... every bad, will, ultimately, be turned into eternal
good for those who love God and are called by His name. The bricks of life
arrive in many shapes and sizes, may be physical, financial, relational or
emotional, and may be gift wrapped as a blessing. For the saint the Bible speaks of specific categories of
bricks: 1) Trials and tests of faith. 2) The transforming work of the Holy
Spirit. 3) Reaping what one has sown. 4) Chastening, scourging, and rebukes of
the Lord. 5) Persecution for godliness. 6) The devouring attacks of the enemy,
who comes to steal, kill and destroy. 7) Tests of the heart. Paul called these
bricks “light affliction” that produce an eternal weight of glory... the
partaking and sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Bricks are the pressures of
life we feel and deal with daily, and they are all, in a sense, tests of faith
meant to prod our will toward spiritual transformation -- the shaping of our
nature into Christlikeness.
Worry
is the way the world responds to the pressures of life, conforming to the
world’s way of handling bricks. Worry is fear all dressed up, masquerading as
something normal and dripping with anxiety: We all worry, right? But, for the
blood bought saint, worry vents our fears, giving fear an inner voice
denouncing our faith in God. Worry is unmitigated doubt! This makes worry about
the worse thing a saint can do. There are only two ways to respond to bricks,
Fear or Trust, and we all know what fear gets us... more bricks, for
Christlikeness is at the top of our Daddy’s agenda. We must learn to trust our
loving Father unequivocally and depend on Him unconditionally: He has proven
His insatiable love for us. He has promised to never leave us forsaken. He has
promised to turn our bad into His eternal good. We must never ever doubt that
He is with us, in total control, and will take care of us. You see, we are
commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we truly
love God how can we not trust Him… is love without trust even possible? Just as
worry bears the fruit of fear, doubt and ultimately depression, trust bears the
fruit of love, joy, and peace... even in the worse brick storm. “By their
fruits you shall know them”...
THE SECRET TO WEATHERING BRICK STORMS:
TRUST IN GOD UNEQUIVOCALLY…
DEPEND
ON GOD UNCONDITIONALLY…
(Rom.
8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17; 2 Tim. 1:8; 1 peter 4:13; Col. 1:24; 2 Cor. 1:5; Heb. 13:5;
Matt. 7:20)
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