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“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” —Romans 5:3-4 One of the most eventful experiences in nature is the emergence of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Of course, we know that caterpillar in the cocoon struggles, and in the process of the struggle, he comes out of that cocoon and spreads his wings and flies as a beautiful butterfly.  There is an old story told of a person who was watching that natural experience, took out a knife and wanted to help the caterpillar along in the process, and cut the cocoon open to release it. But to that individuals dismay the moth fell limp on the ground and the wings never blossomed into a butterfly. That butterfly was doomed to a short life, crawling and struggling on the ground.  Why? Because the process of struggle was short cut. In our lives we must never seek to short cut the process of pain. All of us experience pain and struggle and suffering in life and often we wonder why.  We ask God questions like; God why, why now, why me, why this.  Jesus said, "In this world, you will have tribulation. But, be of good cheer, I've overcome the world." God is committed to making you into a beautiful Christian. God wants every Christian to be a powerful display of His Glory and a gorgeous, gracious expression of His Love to the world. One of the tools that God uses to make us into beautiful Christians is the tool of adversity.    GOD WANTS TO TAKE OUR SUFFERING AND OUR PAIN AND USE IT IN OUR LIVES TO MAKE US MORE USEFUL VESSELS FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

What We Were by Nature

Thursday, May 02, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

Ephesians 2:1–3

One of the most effective lies of Satan is that people are basically good and just need to know what is right in order to do it. Though it only takes a glance at either today’s news headlines or history to refute this falsehood, it is easy to understand why this lie is so appealing to many. It flatters our pride to hear that we are really not that bad. Because it makes us feel good about ourselves, we want it to be true. But as Paul pointed out to the Ephesians, by nature we are nothing of the sort. We are not okay—we are dead in sin because that is our nature. We are not born good and later corrupted by bad influences around us. We are born as sinners. “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3).

The only hope that we have is to believe in the salvation offered to us through God’s grace. Only His power can change a spiritually dead sinner into a person who is spiritually alive in Christ. All of us started out in the wrong family, and that is the only nature we have unless we come to God in faith. The new nature that makes us alive and gives us the promise of Heaven can only come from Him. Without His salvation we have no hope.

Today's Growth Principle: 

Nothing that we can do will change death into life—it must be God’s grace alone.