TRANSFORMING THURSDAY.
All week I've prayed and pondered what today's post will be.
There are so many different ways to approach our discussion of the be-attitude:
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"Blessed are the persecuted...
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
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Transformation takes time! The butterflies that you see above will not fly or even have brillant colors if they are pushed to hurry through their transformation process. We've taken alot of time discussing Christ's beattitudes. We started last summer. Then we began with be-attitude one again in January. This week we are discussing be-attiude #8. We're not just pulling it out of a hat...we've built up to and prepared for the idea with the first 7 beattitudes. Blessed are...
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- the poor in spirit (selfish to selfless)
- those who mourn over sin (sinful to sinless)
- the meek (unsubmissive to submissive...willing to be led)
- those hungering and thirsting for righteousness (un satisfied to satisfied)
- the merciful (more than sympathy...empathy)
- the pure in heart (spiritually holy)
- the peacemakers (extending saving grace)
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Last night, Glynn Durham taught our Bible class on 1 Thessalonians. Glynn is a gentle and compassionate man who has known suffering throughout his life. He wanted us to look at some words that Paul uses in this book. I especially took note of the ones that I have made bold in this passage:
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1 Thessalonians 3:2-10
"We sent Timothy,
who is our brother and God's fellow worker
in spreading the gospel of Christ,
to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,
so that no one would be unsettled by these trials.
You know quite well
that we were destined for them.
In fact, when we were with you,
we kept telling you that we would be persecuted.
And it turned out that way,
as you well know.
For this reason,
when I could stand it no longer,
I sent to find out about your faith.
I was afraid that in some way the tempter
might have tempted you
and our efforts might have been useless...
...in all our distress and persecution
we were encouraged about you because of your faith..."
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God tempts no one but He allows it to happen. Satan, the tempter, tempts. It becomes a test to where our alliance lies. Life can be really tough! We've seen it the last couple months on this blog: death of children and spouses, tumors, migraines, chronic pain, cancer scares, cancer, depression, heart transplant, financial despair, separation, divorce, special needs, being lied about, betrayal, made fun of, taunted, stress, stress, stress... Okay, you get the picture. Life is hard! There are daily opportunities to show the righteousness of Christ through suffering besides just being stoned or imprisoned.
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One of Glynn's questions for us in class was: What are we tempted to do when we go through trials? Some of the answers included:
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- Blame someone else
- Give up
- Give into anger and resentment
- Be angry at God and blame Him
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What would the righteous answers be?
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Today, is our youngest daughter's 22nd birthday. I see her "getting it"! I see it on her Facebook status yesterday after a really rough day:
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"Crystal is drawing closer to God."
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I see it in a few responses to her status:
- "I'm loving you and still knowing how wonderfully beautiful you are inside and out."
- "Awesome! When that happens, healing happens!"
- "Praying for you, sis! So proud of the woman you are becoming."
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I'd like you to think about all this as you watch this video. It's a tough video to watch. If you have recently lost a loved one, it might not be the time to watch it. If you are very fragile today - wait until later. If you have just joined our blog, then please consider that we've been building up to some of this for quite a few months. It's food for thought. It's about an attitude of the spiritual heart! It's about transformation!
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