Perseverance, Character, and Hope
I finished reading the book of Romans this morning, as I read through the Bible every year. I think it was Wednesday when I read Romans 5:3,4. I have seen several examples this week of how this truth applies in our lives.
These verses describe a process that must happen in life for us to see success in the spiritual sense. We must not let troubles crush us. In fact, we must rejoice when troubles come, because we know God can bring something good out of them. Troubles produce perseverance in our lives, if we do not give up, but we keep trusting the Lord to guide us and to strengthen us. The end result of the perseverance is character. We become better people. We do what is right even when others are not looking. We come to be strong in character, because we know God blesses our faithfulness to Him and our commitment to do what is right. All of that brings hope. We come to know that there is a light at the end of every tunnel into which God leads us, because He can and will bring us through. No matter how big the trial, we know God is bigger and stronger, so He can give us the victory.
These verses should confirm for us that as we keep going in the face of trouble God makes us stronger, as we trust Him and not ourselves. He gives us the strength, but we have to make the decision to follow Him and keep going. He builds the character, but we have to want to do right. He gives us the hope. That is His specialty. All in all, these verses give us the road map to a great life in the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Corinthians 1-3.
These verses describe a process that must happen in life for us to see success in the spiritual sense. We must not let troubles crush us. In fact, we must rejoice when troubles come, because we know God can bring something good out of them. Troubles produce perseverance in our lives, if we do not give up, but we keep trusting the Lord to guide us and to strengthen us. The end result of the perseverance is character. We become better people. We do what is right even when others are not looking. We come to be strong in character, because we know God blesses our faithfulness to Him and our commitment to do what is right. All of that brings hope. We come to know that there is a light at the end of every tunnel into which God leads us, because He can and will bring us through. No matter how big the trial, we know God is bigger and stronger, so He can give us the victory.
These verses should confirm for us that as we keep going in the face of trouble God makes us stronger, as we trust Him and not ourselves. He gives us the strength, but we have to make the decision to follow Him and keep going. He builds the character, but we have to want to do right. He gives us the hope. That is His specialty. All in all, these verses give us the road map to a great life in the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Corinthians 1-3.