Thoughts from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest:
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
I don't want to be a loser or failure in any sense of the word, but I've got to pick my loyalties and stick to my guns! To try to be a "winner" in every aspect of my life only means sacrificing priorities and principles. That's true in many places, and certainly true of being a Jesus-follower.
"All things" working for the good requires a long view of life, and patience. And Hebrews 11 says that some of the faithful never saw the fruit of their sacrifice...on this side. I love when we see awesome God stuff, and I think "suffering well" is only one part of a much bigger picture.
But it's definitely part of it. God help me to be faithful!
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