I must admit, I feel much better posting again. I have learned from my time away; my focus needs to stay on Jesus. Let others write their opinions; I have to stay focused on the Him that allowed me to be here.
I wanted to share with you a devotional I wrote to my daughter as she was beginning her college career. Actually, this is how I began writing these devotionals. It was a way to encourage her as she made the transition from home to independent life. Now, I simply write as the Lord directs for anyone who is willing to read. I pray that you can receive something from it.
1 Cor 4:12 (KJV) And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
There are times when it appears that being a Christian does not make sense. You work hard at keeping yourself pure, only to be rewarded by being chastised by the world. Others seem to enjoy committing sin, and these same people are attempting to ridicule you because of your commitment to Christ. This same principle can be applied in your academic life. You study hard, and commit yourself to your work, while others want to discourage you by telling you to not work diligently. They want to persuade you to have fun, relax, do not take this life so seriously, and if you have trouble, a little cheating may help.
Paul lets us know that there is no easy answer, no free ride. His reward in the earth came from his labor. “Whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap.” This principle applies to all people on earth, whether they believe in Christ or not. Sons of God are expected to be living epistles of this principle. And how do you respond after you work as hard as you can to achieve your best, only to be mocked, scorned and persecuted by others? You receive it, count it all joy, and bless those who are committing those acts against you. Remember, Jesus and Stephen prayed for those who killed them.
Let your light shine through your hard work and work hard to let your light shine. God rewards those those who diligently seek Him, both in Heaven and here on earth.
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5 comments:
It does seem to be a tough way to live with few tangible results until you really grasp all that Christ went through for us and the reward waiting in heaven.
I'm glad you feel better about posting your thoughts. It'd be a shame to keep all this good encouragement to yourself!
"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
I love that verse (well okay, a lot of other verses too). ;-)
The great peace of our faith comes when we learn that we really don't have to work so hard ate it...we need only to submit to Christ with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Then we can relax in our faith.
OH... how I relate to this post :)
very encourageing post. being in college, there's alot of discouragement to remain focused and work hard, it's funny how virtuouse irrespondsebility is to many college students. Thanks for the encouragement.
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