In Spirit and Truth

Job 13:15 "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face." Job knew something of which we are often ignorant. The most important things in our lives depend on our choices. We often degrade love, forgiveness, and worship to simple emotional responses. But if these things were merely emotional, then they would be very fickle responses indeed. We would only love those who loved us in return. We would only forgive those who groveled enough to satiate our anger, and we would only worship a God who continually brought us good things. Yes, Job was onto something. His Children had all died, his health was failing, his own wife told him to "curse God and die" just to get it over with, his friends told him that all this trouble must be God punishing him for some hidden sin, and yet Job chose to worship. He chose to put his hope and his trust in God despite the circumstances. He went so far as to say, "God could outright kill me, and

There are some who believe that when you become a Christian everything will turn out all right. I have known many who accepted Christ joy fully, but became disillusioned because life continued to be hard. But Jesus never promised us that life would be easy. God never assured us that we would avoid pain. In fact, Jesus said exactly the opposite. John 15: 20 “‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” And in John 16:33 , “I have told you these [difficult] things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” In this is our hope: Not that all our problems will disappear, but that the one who faced these problems, and overcame them, walks with us. Now, I know that no one here believed that life would right itself as soon as you accepted Christ. So why write this article? Many times in my own life I faced a difficult situation, and prayed for God to remove it. But i