Act 14:22 “Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Life tempts me and at times persuades me to take the path of less resistance. Yet doing so doesn’t always provide the most rewarding results and only softens my spirit for self. I begin to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in, instead of standing out with Christ. I start to look at earth as "home." Before I know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just as the unbelieving world. I begin to forget the wars and suffering. I forget people are perishing. Missions and unreached people evade my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace and salvation. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God has done. It is a terrible sickness I can be prone to. And I thank God when life has forced me again and again toward a mind-set of tribulation. Then I immediately see the cross and realize that it wasn’t comfortable/convenient, nor a path of least resistance, for Jesus to go to the cross for me!
Tribulation often squeezes the artificiality out of me, making room for the Holy Spirit work… HSAY
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