how do we respond to the trials of life? i am slowly learning the difference between responding to trials in a self-centered way or in a God-centered way.
a self-centered response reveals itself through proud assumptions, gossip, taking matters into my own hands, Bible-ignoring impatience, and rebellious demands for answers.
a God-centered response reveals itself in prayer. too often my fears and doubts cause me to want to demand explanations from God for what's going on. i seem to think i have a right to answers for what God is doing, or why.
i guess God is revealing my own spiritual immaturity. a.w. tozer once wrote "it is doubtful that God can use a man greatly, until He has hurt him deeply". i heard in a sermon once that when life "bumps you" that you "spill" what you are full of. so when the trials of life bump me and gossip, pride, and rebellion spill out then what does that say about my level of "spiritual maturity".
i pray for the day that i consistently respond to trials with greater faith, with patient prayer, with Christ-honoring attitudes, and with a deep committment to the Scriptures.
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