Pain and Gain

Pain and Gain

Bible:Hebrews 12:1-11

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been
trained by it (V.11).

Reading

I used to be a really anxious Christian. When I began spiralling downwards emotionally, God didn’t stop me. He knew I needed to reach the end of myself and my strength. When I finally hit rock bottom, the “rock” on which I fell was Jesus Christ (PSALM 18:2; 1 CORINTHIANS 10:4). God immediately began looking after me, showing me powerful truths from the Bible to teach me to trust Him—not myself. Slowly He helped me to be a more joyful, God-dependent person—just as He made me to be. Through this painful but necessary experience, I learned that when God disciplines us, our greatest gain isn’t what we get but what we become. In Hebrews 12, we read that our heavenly Father loves us too much to let us stay as we are—filled with insecurity, anxiety, selfishness and a fuzzy understanding of who He us. Like any loving Father, He disciplines, corrects and trains us—often through difficult situations. God uses our times of struggle to help us grow and bring us closer to Him (HEBREWS 12:10-11). Most of the time we’re looking to make things as easy as possible for ourselves. We try to avoid pain at all costs. But the life God leads us through will involve tough times as He helps us to realise He alone is our strength and hope. Growth and change are often unsettling, but the growth of our relationship with God is worth it.

GOD USES SETBACKS TO HELP US MOVE FORWARD.

YouTh Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries