Daily Devotional for Wednesday, December 28

The Joy of Persecution

Someone has said that “faith that has not been tested is a faith that cannot be trusted.”
Our faith is much like steel used for buildings and bridges. For steel to be ready for use, it must endure an intense heat which causes impurities to boil to the surface. Those impurities can then be removed, and the molten steel can be poured into a mold for its intended purposes. This steel can be fashioned to carry immense weight once it has been properly tested and purified.
God will allow our faith to be tested through various temptations from Satan and trials of life so that we can be strengthened and purified for His use. It may be that there are impurities that we cannot see which need to be removed. Thus, God allows a temptation to come our way to make us aware of these impurities and surrender them to Him. There may be a weakness in our faith that will not allow us to endure a great task that God has in front of us. Therefore, God sends a great trial to test our faith and cause us to depend on Him and strengthen our faith.
Choosing joy through persecution is not a false sense of reality which leads us to ignore our hardships. Rather, choosing joy requires us to have a clear vision of our circumstances and looking at them through an eternal perspective. With an eternal perspective, we can take joy during our trials because we know that God is at work purifying us for His purposes and strengthening our faith for the path ahead. Like the tested steel, once we have overcome temptations and endured trials, we are purified and strengthened to be used for whatever God intends according to His will.

JUST A THOUGHT: We can take joy in our trials because God is allowing them to strengthen our faith in Him and to sanctify us for His glory.

Steven Ridings