Circumstantial Evidence

Have you ever noticed how quick we are to console someone else who is in a tough spot and tell him that, “it’s building character,” or “look at it as a growing experience”? Why is it that we can’t take our own advice? The same reason that it’s just “minor surgery” when it’s on you but “major surgery” when it’s on me! If you’re like me, you spend the majority of your prayer time asking God to change your circumstances, and if you build a little character in the process then that’s just gravy. Have you ever considered that God may be just fine with your circumstances? In fact, he could have put them there for your benefit. God knows that growth is not an automatic process. We don’t just wake up one day a mature Christian. It is by going through and growing through the very circumstances that we are asking him to take away. Quick question: How many years do you want your child to spend in the first grade? Approximately? About………One! You see, that’s why we make the desks so small, so your child won’t fit at age 23. Remember what Brother James said: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4