Thought of the day:
“I tell you these things so that you may have peace in Me. In the world you will have troubles; But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. ‘
These are the hopeful words of the Savior with whom He encouraged us all to the thorny path that the true believer must go through this world; Until he reaches the blessed shores of the Kingdom of God.
Why do I say that? Well, because traversing the narrow path of the life of faith, a path often difficult to identify among the thickets and sinful bushes that have sprung up like nowhere in the landscape of ‘postmodern cultural Christianity’, we increasingly pass through the ‘valleys of the shadow of death’, there Where we find with the astonishment of innocence the fact that the torturers and persecutors who mercilessly whip our bodies and souls exhausted by the weight of the cross are not among those we believed to be traditional enemies, but rather of ‘ours’.
‘They will cast you out of the congregation,’ the Savior reminded us, ‘yet the time will come when whoever kills any of you will think that he is bringing a service to God, behaving in this way because they have not known Neither the Father nor Me. ‘ Concluded Jesus! (John 16: 2-3)
But looking back at history, we understand that all these deviant behaviors were temporarily allowed only for the purpose of our perfection, because only in this way ‘wheat can be distinguished from weeds’ and gold must first pass the test of fire to be cleaned and put Worth.
Following the same principles, true believers will often go through the ‘valley of the shadow of death’ to strengthen their faith. They will not notice their own pain and suffering, but they will march full of zeal, singing songs of joy and joy springing from hearts full of hope.
This special variety of chosen people know that at the end of the road the Wonderful God of Goodness is waiting for us, an eternal Father who stands with open arms to receive us at home, in His eternal Kingdom.
Be blessed!
Pastor Florin Antonie