Good morning,
For the time has come - - - 1 Peter 4:17
Those of us who are children of God often forget that we have been given the most powerful teacher in the universe as our daily companion. There is no one like God’s Holy Spirit when it comes to understanding and leading each one of us through the perfectly designed plan for each of our lives now in time, and then through the rest of eternity. God always finishes what he starts. The challenges of life that we face now are not unique to the human race, they are just new to us. God has given us his guide book, the Bible, and the perfect guide, our Savior Jesus, and our perfect teacher, his Holy Spirit to equip his children to serve him in each stage of His Story. Now it’s our turn. When it was Peter’s turn, God gave them the information that they needed that is just as important to us today as it was to his kids so long ago. Their world was filled with chaos, and so is ours. God told him to write, For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household.
God is about to do something very special and if we are going to be able to serve God effectively we are going to need training in following God’s plans instead of our own. I think that God is telling us that we had better prepare for the challenges of the future by going through the pain, loss and adjustments that will prepare us for the effective service that will develop God’s kids while exposing those who are God’s sworn enemies. The judgment and training that God has planned for us will produce men and women who will look and act more and more like Jesus every day. For us it is preparation for glory. For God’s enemies it will seal the terrible fate of those who hate God and his family. God ends this sober warning with these wonderful words. So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. God knows how hard this training will feel to us, but if we keep hanging on to Jesus through it all, our Father will be wonderfully pleased with us. He has promised us that he will never leave us or fail us no matter how hard the training. As the song writer pointed out, It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Thank you Lord that we can count on you to keep hanging on to us.
1 Peter 4:19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
Roy Wisner
