SOFT-SELLING SELF!
When we’re walking through adversity, it’s easy to focus exclusively on the momentary trouble. God, however, has specific purposes for bringing us through times of hardship.
He calls us to pen no treaty with evil, no matter the depth of pain.
One reason He may allow trials is to teach us to follow Him more closely by rejecting sin.
In Psalm 97:10, we are told, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord.”
Isn’t it true that we sometimes don’t act as if we hate evil?
We soft-sell sin to justify a compromise:
“evil is all around me in this world, so I guess it’s inescapable! The best I can hope to do is to try and manage it.”
But we are not commanded to manage evil; instead, we are instructed to hate its very presence.
"Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14)
“Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever.” (Psalm 37:27)
When we see evil, we are to turn around and run in the opposite direction.
Adversity has a way of clarifying things. In difficult seasons, God refines our spiritual vision, and we begin to see sin’s destructiveness more clearly.
The hardship that once felt purposeless becomes the very means by which He draws us closer to Himself, teaching us to cling to what is good and flee from what destroys.#
Today's SoulSnack contains edits and is a sermon extract from Dr. Charles Stanley