off to a good start

jogging on the spot: an early morning read

I just got this in my inbox. It reminds me of how God prepares us in the events of our lives for future events in our lives. Life is a crucible and in it God shapes people for his service and his glory. I think so much of the unbeleif in this world and in those who struggle with God comes out of trying to make sense of the pain or discomfort of the crucible. "This is not what i was shaped for", they protest. and they are right. It's actually the other way around. This is what will shape them. unless they figure a way to weasel out of the crucibles of God again.

anyway. here it is.

December 10

Trials and Pain: Few Lovers of His Cross

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will
of God, you may receive the promise.
--Hebrews 10:36

When God needs a person for His service-a good person, an effective
person, a humble person-why does He most often turn to a person in
deep trouble? Why does He seek out a person deep in the crucible of
suffering, a person who is not the jovial, "happy-happy" kind? I
can only say that this is the way of God with His human creation....

Ezekiel did not come out of pleasant and favorable circumstances.
The light had gone out in his heart. He probably thought that God
takes a long time to work out His will.

Does not this same view surface in much of our Christian
fellowship? We do not want to take the time to plow and to
cultivate. We want the fruit and the harvest right away! We do not
want to be engaged in any spiritual battle that takes us into the
long night. We want the morning light right now! We do not want to
go through the processes of planning and preparation and labor
pains. We want the baby this instant!

We do not want the cross. We are more interested in the crown.

The condition is not peculiar to our century. Thomas a Kempis
wrote long ago, "The Lord has many lovers of His crown but few
lovers of His cross." Men Who Met God, 115 A.W. Tozer