Author: Tim Challies

It is inevitable that we face times of difficulty and impossible that we escape them altogether. To be born is to suffer and to live is to endure all manner of trouble and trial. Just as none of us escapes death, none of us escapes all hardships. And when we face such hardships, we invariably long to overcome them. We want to get past them, through them, over them, around them—whatever it takes for them to come to as quick an end as possible. Yet it does not take us long in the Christian life to learn that God means for us to get something from our hardships—he wants us to gain something precious and obtain something valuable. And sometimes this means the hardships will persist for a long time or even for the rest of our days on earth. One of the pearls of wisdom that has served me well in life and that has been both challenging and comforting is this: Suffering always comes bearing a gift. It comes bearing a gift of God’s blessing if only we will seek for it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure. We can believe suffering comes bearing a gift because it does not come apart from God’s will, and his will for us is always good. There is nothing in the will of God that is ultimately to the detriment of his children and so there is nothing in the providence of God that is ultimately to our harm. To the contrary, he…See AlsoA La Carte (July 23)A La Carte (January 25)What It May Cost

God calls us to live lives marked by holiness. God could have arranged the world in such a way that when we put our faith in Christ, he immediately “zaps” us with the full measure of holy character. He could have arranged it this way, but in his wisdom he didn’t.See AlsoThe Bibleiest ChristiansA La Carte (July 23)Do You Envy the Wicked?