Philippians 1:12
But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
Our life is not about ourselves, but it is about God using our life in whatever way He deems best to further the Gospel. This means sometimes God deems it best to allow us to go through difficult times so that we can be a better witness for Him. Paul understood this valuable truth, and that is how he kept a good attitude despite all the hardships he faced. Paul wanted others to know what happened to him was for the furtherance of the gospel. Because Paul had such a burden for people to get saved, he was okay with God sending these hardships his way so that the Gospel could be carried further.
People often ask, “Why doesn't God stop what I am going through?” As a pastor and a friend of the person I am talking to, I wish I had the answer, but I often don’t. The only thing I can rest on is that God allows hardships in one’s life so they can be a better testimony to others. I often tell people that the hardship they face is their story of God’s grace in their life. I often tell people they can either get bitter at God for what He allowed to happen, or they can use what has happened as a tool to be a witness to others who are going through the same hardship. There are several things you must come to grips with if you will have the mindset that hardships happen as a tool to further the Gospel.
First, life is bigger than you. One of our greatest problems is we make life about ourselves. I often tell people to look at a globe and where they live on that globe, then try to find where they are on that globe. When you look at life in that manner, you are a minuscule little dot on the globe, which should remind us that life is not about us. At the writing of this devotional, there are 7.95 billion people on earth, and you are only one. You can put yourself in perspective when you realize that life is much bigger than you.
Second, God cares for you in this great world. You may just be a minuscule dot on the globe, but God is interested in your life and wants to use you to make your dot bigger. If you go through life without hardships, your dot on this globe remains minuscule and will disappear once you die. However, God is able to make your dot bigger, but He uses hardships to do this. Think with me if you will. There were many other people in Job’s day, but we only know about Job because of the heartache he went through. God made Job’s dot much bigger by allowing him to go through heartache. God always uses heartache and struggle to make the dot of a person’s influence bigger in this life and in eternity. Nobody hears about the person who doesn't struggle, but we hear about the person who overcomes the great struggle, which allows the influence of their dot to get much bigger.
Third, God looks at your life from an eternity view. Yes, God is an ever present help in time of need, but He allows you to go through hardships so that you can influence eternity better. Your struggle is God’s tool to help you to be a better witness of the Gospel, which allows your dot of influence to become much greater.
Are you allowing God to make your dot of influence greater? Stop fighting the hardships, and allow them to be the tool you use to further the Gospel. The more you use your hardships as tools to further the Gospel, the greater your dot of influence will be in your life and in eternity.
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