Think of Home By: Doug Beyer

By: Doug Beyer, Atherton Resident since 2011

James 1:2-3

“My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.”

Questions for reflection and application:

• When trials come my way do I consider myself fortunate or unfortunate?
• How can my faith succeed today in overcoming trials?

Thought for today:

“Life is difficult” is the opening line in M. Scott Peck’s best-selling book, “The Road Less Traveled.” It is a refreshingly honest statement in a world filled with false promises of easy gratification and instant happiness. The Bible is the most honest, realistic book you’ll ever read. Far from promising us a problem-free life, Job said, “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). You may feel like you are a “born loser” but with Jesus Christ, you are a born-again winner. Nothing can come your way today that hasn’t been foreseen and approved by Jesus Christ. Max Lucado writes: “May I gently but firmly remind you of something you know but may have forgotten? Life is not fair.

That’s not pessimism, it’s a fact. It’s not a complaint, it’s just the way things are.” At some point someone needs to say to us, “Who ever told you life was going to be fair?” God didn’t. In James 1:2, he didn’t say, “If you have many kinds of troubles,” he said, “When you have many kinds of troubles.” Troubles are part of the package. Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. My kingdom is from another place” (John18:36). When all of earth turns against you, all of heaven turns toward you. To keep your balance in this crooked world, think of home!