Recalling the Former Days
5/5 Reading Portions: Numbers 12-13; Psalm 49; Isaiah 2; Hebrews 10
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
5/5 Reading Portions: Numbers 12-13; Psalm 49; Isaiah 2; Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10:32
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
ENLIGHTENED
When I was a lost soul in 1984, and the Lord’s grace and mercy surrounded me with Christians, I remember having the thought that these young men didn’t have any problems; that instead of griping and complaining, they were happy. Once the power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ enlightened me to His precious gospel after nine months of their Christian witness, I was enlightened to another truth— these fellows did have problems and difficulties. We experience trial and life’s difficulties. We suffer the pounding onslaught of devilish temptation. Yet by God’s grace and in the strength of Christ, we endure by the love, joy, and peace from the Father through Christ by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The gospel truth enlightened me to the fact that these brothers, amid life’s struggles, were not immune from suffering, but possessed Christ’s joy and peace through them. Faith, which grips the grace of God in Christ, is more powerful than the largest trial or the wildest natural disaster. After several years, I was enlightened to another gospel truth— every struggle, every tribulation, every fiery dart, and pointed barb we suffer brings us closer in fellowship with those with whom we endure those hardships (Heb 10:33). Moreover, what we experience causes us to have “compassion on those in prison” (Heb 10:34a), with those who were themselves enduring similar situations and circumstances. Most importantly, I was enlightened by the gospel truth that in Christ we have “a better Possession and an abiding One” (Heb 10:34b), because we have Jesus, the Treasure of heaven, who dwells eternally with us. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Yes, Jesus is the Lord of Life,
Enlightening our minds:
His joy and peace endure all strife
And comforts friends in kind.