Day 25: Transformed by Trouble

A Christian will face a myriad of quandaries throughout his life, as is forecast in sundry
texts throughout the Bible. But God has a purport for every circumstance that a believer will face
throughout his life; that of developing the believer’s character, of drawing the believer more
proximate to God by incrementing his faith and of eliminating superficiality in the believer’s
prayers and worship.

· Accept its authority.

· Assimilate its truth.

· Apply its principles.

Christians should ken that all of life’s circumstances (smooth or rough) are either directly
caused or sanctioned by God. What qualifies as a contingency to the believer is only an incident
to God. Everything that transpires to the believer has spiritual consequentiality. A key passage
exemplifying this truth is Romans 8:28, 29, which essentially betokens that in truth everything
(illness, debt, disasters, divorce, death, good fortune, amities, love, solitude, temptation, stress,
reproval, abnegation, etc.) that transpires to a believer is a component of God’s grand design for
him in order that he may grow spiritually into the image of Jesus Christ. But a Christian always
has the potency of cull when it comes to how he responds to the circumstances of life. An
erroneous cull will engender spiritual stagnation, or worse, decay. But a correct cull will mirror
the qualities and character of Jesus Christ, i.e., how He would respond to the circumstance.