From The Crucible (by Pastor Linda Pugsley)

PARRR-TAAY! Party time! That seems to be the mindset of many in today’s world. It seems that so many more of our young people are looking through a set of glasses that portrays the whole purpose of life as one of having fun and living at the height of comfort. “Eat, drink and be merry”, is the mantra.

But if they ever woke up and looked around themselves, that viewpoint might starkly change because our world is full of suffering people. Could you really continue to gorge yourself at a buffet if you actually saw an entire village in Africa on the verge of death from starvation?

Someone who’s convinced that the only purpose in life is enjoyment and satisfaction is deaf to the desperation around them. Awareness of this desperation can do many things. It can turn an individual even more into himself, and thus shunning the truth of human suffering; or it could turn someone away from God upon the discovery of this misery; or, as is hoped, it could be the heart-opener that drives them to God. In driving people to God, they might then understand the broader view from God’s perspective.

When suffering occurs, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t care or has turned away from the situation. The frailty of humanity most always cries out at times of suffering, asking the ever present, “why?” Whereas an omniscient God looks at suffering asking, “To what end?”

Our journey on earth is not just for our comfort, but more for our character! The journey is just that…a journey. One in which we learn through the indwelling Spirit of God how to be more like God and not like man. In God’s eyes, your eternal damnation to hell is worse than some pain and suffering you may experience here. If God can rescue you from Satan and his snares, He’ll do it, even if it half kills you! So get a grip, look to the Lord and be blessed that His plan, no matter what it entails, is for your good and not for your calamity, to give you a future and a hope. What a God! Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold!

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