New Monmouth Musings: What We Learned at U-Turn for Christ About Adversity

Dear Friends,

Last Tuesday I met with members of U-Turn for Christ, an addiction ministry that we host each week at New Monmouth. We were studying the subject of adversity, and I asked the question, “How has adversity shaped your life?” 
And one by one they each began revealing the pain and problems they had experienced as they dealt with their drug or alcohol addiction. They all shared different stories, but they all agreed on one thing: They were glad for the adversity they experienced as they battled with their addiction.

Why would they say that? Because it was adversity that led them into a recovery ministry that had taught them about God. Despite their painful pasts, they were all grateful for their pasts for they could now see how that adversity had now brought them  face to face with Jesus.

Someone was right on when they said, “What we call adversity, God calls opportunity.”  How often God uses adversity to break the bonds of some sin that enslaves us.

Together we examined James 1:2-4: where James reminds us that we are to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

These brothers in their new-found faith could now see how their painful pasts had now produced a new and a promising future. They now had come to fully understood God’s promise in Romans 8:28 that “In everything, God works together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”

Each day I receive Allister Begg’s e-mailed daily devotional, and I was struck by his words this morning which focused on the very subject we were discussing within our group. He writes  “Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod. Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from clinging to the present and made to long for those eternal things that are so soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for nothing, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the future.”

Have a great day today and remember that “We are always in the forge, or on the anvil; but by trials God is shaping us for higher things.”

Yours in faith and friendship,
Pastor Tom