The Ultimate Encouragement
Most of you will know the story about the pig and the chicken who walked past the orphanage. "Let's give them breakfast," said the chicken. To which the pig replied, "Well, for you it's a donation, for me it is total commitment!"When tough circumstances bludgeon us, we have this amazing comfort and encouragement: God did not make a quick donation to our brokenness and need. He made a TOTAL commitment.
No matter what we go through, Christ went further. We will never be more lonely, more hurting, or more suffering than Christ. No matter where we are, Christ is with us because He gave everything for us.
Our victory is not in the absence of trouble, but in the fact that wherever we are, Christ already blazed a trail through.
And the crunch is this: He didn't have to! He chose to.
And now, this God who gave up everything to buy us back when we sold ourselves to sin, also
- gives us the right to be His children,
- fills us with His Holy Spirit
- and prepares a place for us to be with Him in eternity.
If this is this the extent to which God gives Himself for us and if we remember that Christ has already overcome suffering, sin and death for us, we can look trouble in the eye and say:
"Hey trouble! Is that the best you've got?"
| What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans8:31-32) |
This brings us to the end of our our series on Encouragement and I pray that it has encouraged you. This is also the end of the EmmDevs for the year. I will resume in January, but will send you a short five part Christmas reflection early next week. If you have a moment, I'd really appreciate it if you filled in a brief evaluation of the EmmDevs this year. Just go to https://tinyurl.com/y7oxqztj . I pray for God's blessing over you and your loved ones over this Christ-mass season and I pray that you may have time to rest, reflect and revive. God bless and Love, Theo |
