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When Faith is Tried, September 20
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
1
Peter 1:7
.
When we are brought into adverse circumstances, when our natural
feelings are stirred, and we want to give vent to them, then our faith is
tried; then we are to manifest the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Not
by one word are we to give expression to the feelings of the natural heart.
“If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also
to bridle the whole body” (
James 3:2
)—the whole man. What we want
is to be under the control of Jesus. We do not want our own way. I have
heard some plead as an excuse for their wrong course, “You know that
it is my temperament, it is my disposition, transmitted to me from my
parents.” Yes; and they have cultivated it and educated themselves in it
and thus excused all their wrongdoing. Instead of yielding to temptation,
they should lay hold upon the arm of Infinite Power, saying, “I will come
to God just as I am, and plead with Christ to give me the victory. I shall
be more than conqueror through Him that loved me.”
In order to understand how great the love of Jesus is for you, look to
Calvary. You can then know something of the depth, the breadth, and the
height of that love, and you can see something of the condescension of
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, as step by step the Saviour descended into
the valley of humiliation. He did not stoop to sin, to defilement, but He
stood on this atom of a world to battle with Satan and his host, and here
to win for us an immortal inheritance, an inheritance which ... fadeth not
away.
When He ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men, He left the battle in our hands, but we are not to fight in our
own strength; we should certainly fail if we attempted it. Christ is there
present with the Father to bring to our help the unseen intelligences....
What we need is the simplicity of faith, the meekness and humility of
Christ. Then we shall trust wholly in the Lord of heaven, and He will be
at our right hand to help us.
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